December
2003
12/29/03
"That
math, however, has sent American software engineers into unemployment
lines.'We have definitely felt it,' says Fadi Bishara of TechVenture,
an out placement firm in Menlo Park, Calif." writes the Christian
Science Monitor's Mark Sappenfield in "Around
the Globe, New 'Silicon Valleys' Emerge: As software jobs move
to India and beyond, California could lose its footing as tech
startup capital of the world.."
12/28/03
"Candidate's
recollections differ from historians' views of a turbulent decade"
writes the Washington Post's Paul Farhi in "Dean
Tries to Summon Spirit of the 1960s." When reading this, remember that history
is written by the victors, and it is my memory that Berkeley lost
The Insurrection.
Someone
set fire to a pine tree in the middle of the École Bilingue
playground on Christmas night. Since this is Berkeley, I'm not
sure if it was a prank by the neighborhood kids or part of a rite
by Nature worshipers.
And
a belated, Happy Winter Solstice to all!
Saturday afternoon, I took my bike to the "Canned Food Store"--they
have a great price on double-boxes of Corn Flakes. As I was locking
up my bicycle another old man was unlocking his. While locking
and unlocking, we exchanged glances and then broke into smiles.
"How are you" he asked. "Fine" I said "And
how are you doin'?" "Pretty good for an old man"
he said. And then as old men will do, we talked about how everything
has gon ta hell in a hanbasket. Then, as he was ready to leave
he stopped and offered "I worked in the shipyards but now
I'm retired and do volunteer drug counseling. It can be real depressing,
but sometime you reach someone--just sometime. Maybe one in hundreds.
But, it's worth it." "Happy New Year" he said as
he left. "Happy New Year to you, too" I said.
12/27/03
"Transportation unit headed for Iraq
sought extra protection for non-combat vehicles" writes David A. Lieb
of the Associated Press in the Washington Post. Also read
"Pentagon criticized for shortage of protective vests"
by Vernon Loeb and Theola Labbé of the Washington Post
in "Body
Armor Saves U. S. Lives in Iraq." and read Scott Marshall's "Lawmakers:
Troops are Ill-Equipped" in the West County Times,
And
see my, before anybody else, 10/30/03 post.
12/26/03
HAPPY KWANZAA!
If
you didn't yesterday,
today check out Drop
Me Off in Harlem.
&
Check out the Kwanzaa web site.
12/25/03
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY
For exercise of
the mind, the Soul, and the imagination after Xmas dinner check
out Drop
Me Off in Harlem
12/24/03
MERRY
XMAS!
Potter
Creek gardens on Christmas Eve
And,
some of Berkeley's best traditional Christmas decorations are
found on Wallace Street between Ward and Russell--this year the
festive lighting has spread to many of the surrounding streets.
(Wallace is just east of, and parallel to, San Pablo Avenue.)
These displays are so spectacular that I've stopped going up in
the Hills to look at lights. Though the decorations are not in
Potter Creek they're close, just a few blocks walk.
Another
reason to buy Scharffen Berger chocolate is given by Nicholas Boer of the West County times
in "Let
Chocolate Wrap up Your Holiday."
Gosh doggone! Lenny
Bruce is pardoned reports Michael Gormley of the Associated
Press in the West County Times.
12/23/03
Rick
"workin' out" before performing at a Winter solstice
concert celebrating the healing power of music
12/22/03
An on-the-road view from the side-window
of Rick Auerbach's Gypsy Van
12/20/03
HAPPY HANUKKAH!
"The Berkeley Public Education Foundation is
celebrating its 20th year by giving teachers in the city's 17
schools $137,235 in classroom grants" writes Meredith May
in her "School
Notes" in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Who IS this
guy's schneider?
12/18/03
Today is Niger
Proclamation of
the Republic Day.
Well over two-dozen people crowded-to-overflowing
in the room at Kava Massih's to hear the Affordable Housing Associates'
professional presentation of their Ashby project. I was present
for the first hour and fifteen minutes, which was largely taken
up be Kava's presentation with plans and a model. The people present,
many prospective tenants, offered intelligent suggestions and
questions, all of which were duly noted by the staff. But Kava,
always the charmer, met his match. After one of his quips bombed,
and in answer to his "Where's your sense of humor?"
a large outspoken red-head shot-out "Dancing naked on your
tongue!" (Much more will follow with photos.) Cheese, fruit,
crackers, salsa and chips were offered and eaten. Sadly, there
was no Persian food.
One of the Buttercup favorites
in the '70s were Granny Fenster cookies. Thought to be from a
relative of mine, in fact, their recipe was found by manager,
Mary Guenther in a 1940s Wisconsin Gas and Electric Cook Book--the
Gas Company's. Further confusing their origin, during one of the
first bakes, Haley, unknown to me, taped a large handwritten sign
to my back reading GRANNY FENSTER
Granny Fenster Cookies
pre heat oven to 375
1 cup Butter (2 sticks)
1 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg yolks
2 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Raspberry Jam, Dickinson's seedless (sometimes strawberry is used)
2 cups fairly finely chopped pecans
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in
yolks and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt until blended.
refrigerate 1 hr.
Shape into 1" balls, roll in beaten egg whites (left over
from the yolks used in cookies), then roll in chopped pecans.
Place on lightly oiled cookie sheet, (I use parchment paper, you
can use nonstick spray also) about 2" apart, gently make
indentation.
Bake 5 minutes, remove from oven, you may need to press the indentation
again, fill with jam and bake another 10 minutes. Makes about
4 dozen
Our Alice Waters is the subject
of tonight's American Masters at 8:00 PM on KQED.
12/16/03
Today is Bahrain National Day and Kazakhstan National Day
And, It's Ludwig
van B's Birthday!
12/15/03
"Bayer
Healthcare AG . . . announced a 11 percent work-force reduction
Thursday, a move that will leave 190 Berkeley employees without
a job" writes Jakob Schiller of the Berkeley Daily P.
If
the Berkeley Bowl Project is built on their proposed site, they
will cement over the last significant green-space in Potter Creek.
On
1/30/03 I posted "A community
meeting was held last night at Kava Massih Architects in a much
too small, stuffy room. Among those present were representatives
of our Mayor and our Councilwoman. Kava presented his very elementary
plan for the Berkeley Bowl site on Heinz. Judging from his presentation,
for a dramatic increase in traffic, Potter Creek will get a wonderful
market and restaurant, and Berkeley Bowl will get a warehouse.
But more importantly, I believe this project signals an area sea
change, the effects of which can only be imagined -- certainly
increased density is one of them. For myself, I will make the
leap of faith and assume that most of them will be good."
(There were upwards of seventy people at this meeting and Kava's
project was overwhelmingly approved by a show of hands.) And for
a more "optimistic" view, I quote "Tenth Street"
Jack Miller. At another meeting, characterized by a resistance
to change, he asked "What the hell is wrong with you people?"
Seventy or eighty-something Jack is our oldest resident and he
was born in Potter Creek.
A reminder
that the Affordable Housing people are giving a presentation of
their proposed development of low-income housing on the site of
the Asphalt Products Oil Corporation at 1001 Ashby. The meeting
will be held at Kava Massih Architects,
2830 9th Street, Wednesday, December 17th between 5:30 PM and
7:30 PM.
(The Asphalt Products Oil
Corporation--for decades a facility manufacturing asphalt-products,
a former user of asbestos, the sight of at least one explosion
and fire, a product-transfer facility, and over the years the
subject of many neighbor complaints.)
I would encourage all people
in Potter Creek to attend this presentation--residents, workers,
business-owners, property-owners, realtors, developers, representatives,
all. Too often these meetings are dominated by the "usual
suspects"-- the residents of a few-blocks' area. But, these
people are by no means representative of the entire neighborhood,
though they have been the most vocal. In fact, so isolated are
they, that when a business that predates almost-all began to more
actively use a facility in their midst--a mixed-use area--some
were annoyed and complained. So, please all, attend! This is a
thirty square-block area.
And, . . . if the housing-developers
are serious about full community participation, I question holding
their meeting during the Holidays, one week before Christmas Eve.
There are many artists
and crafts people in Potter Creek. They are now
having open studios. Check them out!
A Richmond Ramblers M. C.
reader sent this recipe.
"This is a
wonderful recipe, and it's just in time for the Holidays. Enjoy!
With the holidays coming,
here's a fruit cake recipe that will help
take the stress out of this normally stressful time.
Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups dried fruit
1 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar
3 ounces lemon juice
1 cup of nuts
vodka
First, sample the vodka
to check for freshness. Take a large bowl.
Check the vodka again to be sure it is of the highest quality.
Repeat.
Turn on the electric mixer, beat 1 cup of butter in a large fluffy
bowl.
Add water, eggs and 1 tsp. sugar and beat again.
Make surr the vodca is still OK. Cry another tup. Turn off mixers.
Chuck in the cup of dried fruitt or something.
Mix on the turner.
If the fried druit gets struck on the beaterers, pry it loose
with a
drewscriver.
Sample the vodka to check for tonsistancity. Next, sniff 2 cups
of
salt. Or . . . Who cares? Check the vodka. Now sniff the lemon
juice
and strain nuts.
Add one Table.
Spoon.
Of sugar. Whatever.
Grease the oven.
Turn the cake ttin 350 degrees.
Don't forget to beat off the turner.
Whip the bowl out the window.
Check the vidka again.
Ah, . . . forget
it. Nobody likes fruitcake anyway."
Our
firehouse -- B.F.D. Fire Station 1 -- collects gifts for children
during these Holidays. The firehouse is at 2442 8th Street and
you can drop off gifts there anytime. You might also drop off
something for our firemen and firewomen.
12/13/03
Today is Saint
Lucia Independence
Day.
12/12/03
Half-dozen people from Potter
Creek went to the City of Berkeley Planning Commission meeting
Wednesday evening to express their concerns over the effect of
Berkeley Bowl Project on the Potter Creek neighborhood. Specifically,
they spoke and expressed the need for some type of traffic control
if the Berkeley Bowl builds. The Commission and the City Planning
Staff listened and it was felt that they took the concerns seriously.
The project architect was present and indicated there would be
a traffic study by a consultant prior to presenting the proposal,
and that the neighborhood would be kept better informed of the
traffic study results as well as future Commission public hearings.
Also discussed, was the need for a variance or rezoning to allow
the Bowl to build: The project as it is now is out of code. The
variance seemed the simplest solution. Discussion will be continued
at the future meeting. The people who attended the meeting contributed
to this summary.
Don Juan de la Cierva Codorniu,
who with Pablo Picasso and Pablo Casals is properly revered in
Spain as one of the true Spanish geniuses, was the inventor of
the first practical rotating-wing aircraft, the
Cierva autogiro.
" 'Off da' heezy': The
fabulous Berkeley High Slang Dictionary is getting a revision
and a publisher" writes Meredith May in her today's "School
Notes" in
the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Iraqi women are fighting prejudice
to regain the rights lost under Saddam-and to win themselves a
say in rebuilding their country" writes Newsweek's Maria
Cristina Caballero in "Raising
Their Voices."
12/11/03
A thirty-one year old woman
was sexually assaulted yesterday morning while running on the
Bay Trail south of Gilman Street. Anyone with information should
call the Berkeley P.D at 510-981-5900.
A story about the baroque
conductor, our Nicholas McGehan, can be read in Georgia Rowe's
West County Times story "Baroque
Orchestra Honored."
"I'm becoming more
and more convinced, as time goes by and we look at the research,
that global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the
American people and the world" said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.,
the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public
Works in a report on
MSNBC.com Whoaa, . . . what's this good
ole boy smokin'? Baaaaad #%*&!
12/10/03
Today is Constitution
Day in Thailand.
Aesop's THE ASTROLOGER
A man who lived a long time ago believed
that he could read the future in the stars. He called himself
an astrologer, and spent his time at night gazing at the stars.
One evening he was walking along the
open road outside the village. His eyes were fixed on the stars.
He thought he saw there that the end of the world was at hand,
when all at once, down he went into a hole full of mud and water.
There he stood up to his ears, in
the muddy water, and madly clawing at the slippery sides of the
hole in his effort to climb out.
His cries for help soon brought the
villages running. As they pulled him out of the mud, one of them
said: "You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet
you fail to see what is at your feet! This may teach you to pay
more attention to what is right in front of you, and let the future
take care of itself." "What use is it," said another,
"to read the stars, when you can't see what's right here
on earth?"
Take care of the little
things and the big things will take care of themselves.
12/9/03
The Affordable Housing Associates
Ashy Loft Project will make a presentation in a meeting at Kava
Massih Architects, 2830 9th Street, Wednesday, December 17th between
5:30 PM and 7:30 PM. The project is to be built on property near
or adjacent to the proposed Berkeley Bowl sight. (I believe the
property is 1001 Ashby, now and for decades, the Asphalt Products
Oil Corporation--a facility manufacturing asphalt products, a
former user of asbestos, the sight of at least one explosion and
fire, and a product-transfer facility. "One way to get rid
of the lower-class" quipped Potter Creek's most cynical smart-ass.)
Kava has not returned my call for more specific information.
I have posted more hazardous
material users to the Potter Creek
Hazardous Material Users Map.
12/8/03
An old friend and record collector
emailed from Arizona "Thank you for the Scrambled Eggs update.
I read the entries and ask myself, what the hell am I doing in
this dull, terminally boring burg . . . Thanks for helping me
to maintain a drug-free level of sanity."
Rick Auerbach is circulating
a petition expressing his concern about the increase of traffic
in Potter Creek as a result of the Berkeley Bowl Project. Rick
can be reached at
ricauerbach@yahoo.com
"Dirty
Bomb Rockets Vanish: Arms Made in Caucasus Feared Sold to Terrorists" reports Joby Warrick of The Washington Post.
12/7/03
In
its first year, Scrambled Eggs pages received just over 20,000
visits. I don't have the number of hits on these pages for last
year but the site as a whole averages seven hits per visit.
The
Potter Creek, Berkeley Bowl Project
will be on the City of Berkeley Planning Commission agenda at
this Wednesday's meeting. (Though listed as an informational item,
a commissioner can move it to action.) The Planning Commission
will meet Wednesday at 7:00 PM, December 10th in the North Berkeley
Senior Center. Citizens are encourage to attend and speak. (I
will post more details before the meeting.)
The talented Meredith May
entertains and informs with her short-story-like report on the
secret restaurant in today's San
Francisco Chronicle.
Two
years ago, my friend Takane Eshima gave me a copy of the book
Day
of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor. The author is ex-Oakland
Tribune reporter/photographer, Robert B. Stinnett. The book's
thesis is that it wasn't the Japanese who were sneaky about Pearl
Harbor, it was us. Although his case that FDR knowingly let Pearl
Harbor happen in order to get America into war is not fully made,
it seems clear Roosevelt finessed us into World War II.
I have posted more hazardous
material users to the Potter Creek
Hazardous Material Users Map. There
are now thirty on the map with many, many more existing users
to be posted and my sources say more hazardous material users
are coming to Potter Creek. Photos of some of our users' facilities
will be posted in the New Year on both the Almost Daily Posts
page and on the Potter Creek and Hazardous Material page. I will
also report on meetings with OSHA.
Damn,
lost another plant along the driveway edge. "Stress"
offered the nurseryman.
12/6/03
Today is Finland Independence Day.
Ah, . . . Barnes & Noble, Emeryville.
Recently, I've had occasion to shop this store for some of their
own titles: these can be difficult to find new elsewhere. For
instance, they published a particularly beautiful photo-essay
of Cadillac motorcars, Classic
Cadillac by James A. Dietzler. This is an $18.50 list price book which
they are remaindering for $6.98. The photo and print quality of
this volume are the equal of books twice the price. I could not
find a copy in the store and so asked a staff member.
She was extremely helpful. She checked the computer, said they
had many copies, carefully looked on the shelves, and when she
was enable to find any copies, left and talked to the manager.
She returned with the news that the manger said that indeed they
had copies, but could not get them now as the shipment-boxes were
not marked. Ah, . . . Barnes & Noble, Emeryville. Oh, . .
. they "lost" a copy of a book I'd put on hold; another
bargain, Fighter:
A Pictorial History of International Fighter Aircraft by Bill
Gunston.
Then after all this, today I thought I'd comfort myself with an
espresso from their Starbuck's--a dollar-seventy-five, luke-warm,
and served in a paper cup. Ah, . . . Barnes & Noble, Emeryville.
(Both these books can be purchased
used thru Border's
web site.)
"An original manuscript
of a movement from one of Ludwig van Beethoven's last compositions
sold Friday for more than $2 million" writes Robert Barr
in "Opus 127
Sells for Opulent Price" in today's West County Times.
My favorite CD performance of this Opus
127 String Quartet is by the Kodály Quartet on Naxos
8550563. Its list price is $6.98.
Not Beethoven, but also "longhair"
and also gaaaronteed to make you feel good is Big Easy Strut by Professor Longhair.
It lists at $11.98. And, for years a favorite LP of mine has been
his New Orleans Piano. It is now
on CD also listing at $11.98.
12/5/03
Today is Thailand , National
Day.
Understanding Saul Alinsky's
techniques as just tools for organizing labor or the community
is an example of really boring thinking!
Are the best burgers in northern
California at Mike's in Cotati? Well, . . . check them out!
Recently, I had the classic
America chocolate cake made with Scharffen Berger's coca. Just
shortly before, I tasted the same recipe made with Nestle's.The
difference is that of real chocolate and candy.
fivr
12/4/03
More hazardous material users
are now posted to the Potter Creek
Hazardous Material Users Map.
There are now twenty-seven
posted with many, many more to come.
"Pentagon criticized for shortage of protective vests"
write Vernon Loeb and Theola Labbé of the Washington
Post in "Body
Armor Saves U. S. Lives in Iraq."
Also read Scott Marshall of
the West County Times, "Lawmakers:
Troops are Ill-Equipped" and see my 10/30/03
post.
Cameron misplaced The Bark's Callie last night.
Happily, some people feeding the cats in park found and returned
her.
12/3/03
My thirty-one years
experience in Potter Creek says
buckle down your stuff, it's the Holidays.
A BMW sedan was broken into overnight while parked
at the southwest corner of 9th and Dwight Way. (John Philips believes
that this car has been there for some time.)
And, an old record-collecting friend I've known
since Campus Records sent "Going to a church doesn't make
you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a
car."
12/2/03
Today is Laos Proclamation of the Republic Day
and United Arab Emirates National Day.
Scharffen Berger's retail store is doing very well
and Scharffen Berger expects to have their cafe open early next
year. Sadly, someone attempted to break into an employee's auto
Friday morning. Happily, they were unsuccessful.
Thanksgiving evening there was a police action in
Potter Creek that closed several streets.
And being somewhat of an airplane nut I recommend
MSNBC's "Ten
Planes that Changed History" by Jon Bonné.
Right now, the new street grade at the intersection
of 7th and Ashby creats a large puddle at the northeast corner
of the intersection. Oops?!
Last night there was a police action in Potter Creek
around 9th and Pardee.
12/1/03
"Reports that say something hasn't happened
are interesting to me, because as we know, there are known unknowns;
there things we know we know," Rumsfeld told the briefing.
"We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we
know there are some things we do not know. But there are also
unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know"
begins Reuter's "Rumsfeld
Wins 'Foot in Mouth' Prize."
Concord police said
last Wednesday that they believe they have the person who stole
the Wells Fargo consultant's computers. (See
my 11/21/03 and 11/22/03 posts.) They also believe that all
the computers' confidential information is intact.
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