1/20/08
Acme's two new flour silos
a Bob Kubik photo
"Military recruiting targeted:Berkeley
initiative would make it more difficult to open enlistment
offices" reports
Kristin Bender of the Times.
"After weekly, sometimes
volatile protests at the U.S. Marines service center in Berkeley,
a group of residents is trying to get an initiative on the November
ballot to make it more difficult for military recruiting offices
to open in the city."
" Merrill Lynch posts $7.8bn loss"
reports BBC NEWS.
"Merrill's boss said the bank's performance was 'unacceptable'.
Wall Street banking giant
Merrill Lynch has unveiled a huge loss for 2007, crippled by exposure
to risky investments in the US housing market.
It made a net loss of $7.8bn in the 12 months to the end of December
from a net profit of $7.5bn in 2006.
The loss includes a massive $14.1bn write-down on failed investments
related to sub-prime mortgages.
Merrill Lynch is the latest big bank to reveal losses related
to the crisis in the US mortgage market.
Earlier this week, Citigroup and JP Morgan also announced write-downs
because of their exposure to the crisis in the sub-prime loan
sector, which focused on consumers with poor or non-existent credit
histories.
JP Morgan Chase said its earnings for the last three months of
2007 fell 34%, while Citigroup reported a $9.83bn net loss for
the last three months of 2007."
"East Bay feeling jobs recession: Slump
in private sector could be an ominous trend for state and local
government agencies with operations in the area" reports the Times' George Avalos.
"A jobs recession has
arrived in the East Bay, with puny job growth in December and
a loss for the entire year of thousands of private sector jobs
across the region.
In 2007, corporations and
other businesses jettisoned 3,200 jobs in the East Bay. All employers
during the year added a relatively small number of jobs, 2,300.
Yet even those weak gains materialized only because government
agencies added 5,500 jobs in Alameda and Contra Costa counties."
Richard of Eight Street has
an immediate, if immediately painfull, fix for the possible recession--have
the Feds move up to this March their law requiring the switch
to digital TV. Everyone would have to spend bucks to get their
digital-fix.
Ah, . . . but the pain. Mo
betta nwz follows.
"Groove Yard: Rockridge shop sustains LP
life even after MP3 success"
writes David Rubien of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Everyone knows the story
of how the compact disc overthrew the 12-inch vinyl record album.
It's a done deal, right? The LP put up a fight for a while, and
even 10 years ago you could find collectors and audiophile die-hards
pawing the stray used-record bin. But they're not getting any
younger, and even hip-hop DJ scratching ain't what it used to
be.
The vinyl emporiums are mostly
gone - Revolver, the Magic Flute, Saturn, Brown's ... even the
mighty LP stalwart Village Music of Mill Valley cashed it in last
year.
But hold the phone.
Now it looks as if the dominance
of the CD may be a tad overrated. The discs have only been around
26 years, and already they're being tossed aside in favor of digital
downloading. According to Nielsen
SoundScan, sales of CDs dipped 20 percent since 2006, and downloads
of individual songs are up 54 percent.
As a result, those dusty
LPs are starting to appear a bit more shiny. Certainly Rick Ballard,
owner of Groove Yard records, thinks so."
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
1/21/08
HAPPY
MARTIN
LUTHER KING JR
DAY!
Lüchow's
German restaurant, on 14th St. in New York City was, in the late
1800s and early 1900s, a gathering place for musicians, artists,
writers and not a few business men and politicians. They gathered
for a little good food, good talk and companionship. Here the
likes of Rachmaninoff, O. Henry, Helen Traubel, Toscanini, Mack
Sennett, Lillian Gish, Theodore Roosevelt and others exchanged
ideas, socialized and ate. William Steinway and his senior staff
were regulars at the noon lunch. Gus Kahn wrote "Yes Sir,
That's My Baby" there, on a table cloth, in 1912. There,
in 1914, Victor Herbert and some friends founded "The American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers," and J.P. Morgan
and Andrew Carnegie held dinners at Lüchow's that made culinary
history. Fritz Kreisler and his wife dined regularly at Lüchow's
and among their favorite desserts were German pancakes. Here's
the recipe:
LÜCHOW'S GERMAN
PANCAKE
PFANNKUCHEN
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pint milk
1/2 pound butter
Powdered cinnamon in shaker
Sugar in shaker
Juice 1 lemon
Preisselbeeren, huckleberry jam, cooked apples or chocolate sauce
Jamaica rum, kirschwasser (optional)
Beat
eggs lightly; beat in flour, salt, and sugar, then milk. Beat
five minutes in all. The batter should be thin and smooth. Melt
enough butter in a wide frying pan to coat bottom and sides. When
hot, pour in 4 to 5 tablespoons batter. Turn and slant pan to
make batter spread to form large, thin, flat pancake. Cook until
batter bubbles: turn, bake other side.
Slip onto hot plate. Makes 4 to 6 pancakes.
Walter
Damrosch was one of the early conductors of the New York Philharmonic
as well as a conductor of the Metropolitan Opera.
He ate regularly at Lüchow's and a favorite dish of his was:
LÜCHOW'S
BEEF STEAK TARTAR
2 pounds fillet
of beef
4 slices freshly buttered toast
4 fresh raw eggs
8 sardellen
2 tablespoons capers
Remove all fat from
beef. Grind meat fine. Arrange on toast; serve raw egg on top
of each slice. Garnish with sardellen and capers. Serves 4.
Dr. Damrosch
enjoyed the German red wine Assmanshauser with his Beef
Tartar.
The recipe is from Lüchow's German Cookbook, Jan Mitchell
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1958).
1/22/08
Pete's Potter
Creek rain gauge shows .4 inch from yesterday through this morning.
Michael Goldin
recommends stopping in wine.com's Fourth Street Showroom--in
the old Peerless Building. He says check out the recommended wines
for under $20.00. They're together in a section to the left as
you go in. You'll find recommendations by Robert Parker and Wine
Enthusiast,
among others.
U-Haul has
spruced up their San Pablo Avenue facility with paint and fencing--perhaps
a response to neighbors' complaints.
I just heard
that The First Church of Christ Science, Menlo Park is "A
proud supporter of KCSM." KCSM-FM is the community,
listener supported 24-hour jazz-station.
Glad to hear
my brothers and sisters are supporting the Brothers and Sisters.
"Global shares tumble on US fears" reports BBC NEWS.
"Investors
remain worried about the state of the US economy. Global stock
indexes, including the UK FTSE 100, have fallen their most since
the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 amid fears of a recession.
The FTSE
100 index tumbled 5.5% to 5,578.2, wiping ($163bn) off the value
of its listed shares.
Indexes in
Paris and Frankfurt slumped by about 7%, while markets in Asia,
India and South America also dropped."
In a brief
conversation with Sally at the end of breakfast Saturday, Sally
quipped "My sister says we'll soon all be in bread lines"
and then added "At least down here we'll get good bread."
In another
conversation some time ago with Zelda B, just before she declared
for mayor, Zelda expressed concern over the troubles of our working
class, their jobs more and more going overseas.
At the lunch
and conversation's end, I quipped "Worry about your tush,
the middle class is next."
3:07 PM--SERIOUS
irritant in front room, mouth burns, throat burns, wear mask,
lights flicker.
1/23/08
Ron,
I wanted to share this with
you ... thought you'd be interested in what became of the pop
music article we did in the current issue. We've put it online
here.
And if you pick up a copy
of Februarys Men Health (we know you are a devoted follower of
their Incredible Abs in 6 Days Plan), turn to page 124 and you'll
see a young actress in a bikini saying "If you have a rescued
dog with you and are reading The Bark, forget it, I'll marry you
right there."
Single men all across America
are lining up at newsstands asking for a copy of our little magazine
...
An online version [of Men's
Health] can be seen at here.
Cheers,
Cameron
When I was in school growing
up in Milwaukee, Frank P. Zeidler was our mayor--Mayor Zeidler
was a Socialist. You can read about that and more on his homepage
at Milwaukee Renaissance.
Milwaukee had a long tradition
of Socialist mayors, however I don't remember it being accompanied
by self-appointed community represenatives telling the mayor or
aldermen what to do. Well, . . . there was me. I didn't presume
to tell any elected representatives what to do but I made the
local papers by bringing Communist speakers to UW-M during the
McCarthy Era. Not that I was a "Commie." I just felt--I
guess passionately--that they should be heard. Actually the editor
of the Daily Worker was boring. Elizabeth
Gurley Flynn, on the other hand, was a pistol.
There's more about my Mayor,
Frank Ziedler,
here
1/24/08
Tuesday evening,
Berkeley Mills, Acme Bread, The City of Berkeley, Uncommon Grounds,
The Bread Project, and others hosted a meeting about green collar
jobs. It was based on the report by Professor Raquel Pinderhughes,
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. The meeting was held at
Berkeley Mills from 5PM to 8PM. It opened with our Mayor's introduction,
proceeded with a presentation by Professor Pinderhughes and a
presentation by Ian Kim of the City of Oakland Green Collar Job
Corps, and closed with discussion. About 50 people were present,
many from Berkeley businesses, including Berkeley Mills CEO, Gene
Agress. Our Councilman, Darryl Moore was also present. It was
covered by Channel 7 NEWS.
I'd like
to know what the report cost.
After talking
to Gene yesterday morning, I gave myself a tour of Berkeley Mills.
Their show rooms are filled with beautiful custom furniture, much
made with bamboo. Check them out!
Also check
out Berkeley Mills website here.
"Worries That the Good
Times Were Mostly a Mirage" reports David Leonardt of the
New York Times and then asks "So, how bad could this
get?
Until a few months ago, it
was accepted wisdom that the American economy functioned far more
smoothly than in the past. Economic expansions lasted longer,
and recessions were both shorter and milder. Inflation had been
tamed. The spreading of financial risk, across institutions and
around the world, had reduced the odds of a crisis.
Back in 2004, Ben Bernanke,
then a Federal Reserve governor, borrowed a phrase from an academic
research paper to give these happy developments a name: 'the great
moderation.'
These days, though, the great
moderation isn't looking quite so great - or so moderate.
The recent financial turmoil
has many causes, but they are tied to a basic fear that some of
the economic successes of the last generation may yet turn out
to be a mirage. That helps explain why problems in the American
subprime mortgage market could have spread so quickly through
the world's financial system. On Tuesday, Mr. Bernanke, who is
now the Fed chairman, presided over the steepest one-day interest
rate cut in the central bank's history.
The great moderation now
seems to have depended - in part - on a huge speculative bubble,
first in stocks and then real estate, that hid the economy's rough
edges. Everyone from first-time home buyers to Wall Street chief
executives made bets they did not fully understand, and then spent
money as if those bets couldn't go bad. For the past 16 years,
American consumers have increased their overall spending every
single quarter, which is almost twice as long as any previous
streak. The bigger question is how severe the recession will be
if it does come to pass. The last two, in 1990-1 and 2001, have
been rather mild, which is a crucial part of the great moderation
mystique. There are three reasons, though, to think the next recession
may not be.. . .
First, Wall Street hasn't
yet come clean. Even after last week, when JPMorgan Chase and
Wells Fargo announced big losses in their consumer credit businesses,
financial service firms have still probably gone public with less
than half of their mortgage-related losses, according to Moody's
Economy.com. They're not being dishonest; they just haven't untangled
all of their complex investments."
The complete story is here.
1/25/08
Pete's Potter Creek rain-gauge
showed .25 inches from Wednesday through Thursday morning.
Ole Freaky-friend, Gary Hughes
emails
Hi Ron Penndorf,
I live in Santa Cruz now,
if you haven't heard. . . .
I have made it a long way
since I cleaned bathrooms for
you at Moe's. I do still have a lot of the art books I got for
that work.
I am, as always, a total
vinyl freak, and have a good collection,
. . . . I bought a new stereo from Brian Hartsell last
year, SME turntable, Quad ESL speakers, etc. Very nice....
I was just thinking about
you since you are one of the few people I
know who has any interest in vinyl.. . . .
Here is a recent photo of
myself and Robin, my wife, taken by Arthur
Olson. John
Wehrle did the tile mural behind the stove.
regards,
Gary Hughes
Wikipedia writes of Milwaukee's last Socialist mayor,
Frank P. Zeidler "During Frank Zeidler's administration,
Milwaukee grew industrially and never had to borrow money to repay
loans. During this period, Milwaukee nearly doubled its size with
a very aggressive campaign of municipal annexations. Large parts
of the Town of Lake and most of the Town of Granville were annexed
to the city during this era. The park system was upgraded. Federal
funding was obtained to complete the highway system that had started
under Daniel Hoan.
On June 13, 1958 he was the
first person to receive an honorary doctorate from the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee."
1/26/08
Pete's Potter Creek rain
gauge shows .3 inches from Thursday through Friday, early-AM.
"West Berkeley Zone Changes Linked to UC,
LBNL" reports Richard
Brenneman of our Planet
"West Berkeley zoning
changes and a dramatic public challenge rounded out a Wednesday
night Planning Commission schedule otherwise dominated by the
Downtown Area Plan.
At issue is what city staff
calls 'increased flexibility' that they say would ease the way
for new projects in West Berkeley linked to research at UC Berkeley
and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
But the proposal has raised
concerns among West Berkeley's artisan community, who fear that
what may be in store is a virtual demolition-in-place of the existing
West Berkeley Plan."
A recent reading of the west-Berkeley
Plan reminded me of a quote attributed to the Russian revolutionary,
Leon Trotsky, . . . and I paraphrase "A camel is a race-horse
made by a committee."
Perhaps we can avoid that
this time 'round.
More than in our Nation,
this is a time for change in west-Berkeley.
"Proposed wood burning ban draws fire" reports Jane Kay of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"A proposed ban on burning
wood in the Bay Area's 1 million fireplaces and stoves on bad-air
days has drawn praise - and heat - from hundreds of residents
as regulators consider how to balance the health risks of inhaling
smoke against the need to stay warm.
The Bay Area Air Quality
Management District's plan to restrict wood burning comes after
federal officials imposed tighter limits on emissions of fine
particles, a move that regional officials say could lead them
to declare 20 Spare the Air days during the winter season. There
have been six such days in the region since November.
After sifting through more
than 400 comments, Bay Area air-quality officials plan to refine
their proposal by spring, intending to put new rules in place
by next winter. Presto logs and logs made of coffee grounds and
nutshells would be regulated like wood."
"Long-idle fireplaces can be hard to light,
need extra care" reports
Billie Cohen of New York Times. But, he writes
"No matter how dense your wood, though, don't count on the
fireplace to warm your home. 'I've been told if you plan to heat
your house 'with a fireplace, you need a stack of wood equivalent
to the size of your house,' Eldridge said, laughing. 'Which is
just a way to say it's ridiculous.' "
"UC Berkeley museum caught up in federal
probe" reports Matt
Krupnick in our Times.
"A Southern California
couple accused of selling or donating looted antiquities gave
at least 14 pieces to the UC Berkeley Art Museum.
Jon and Cari Markell of Los
Angeles are being investigated by federal authorities for allegedly
dealing Asian artifacts that were illegally dug up. Federal agents
raided the Markells' art gallery and four Southern California
museums Thursday.
According to the federal
search warrant served on the gallery, the Markells donated several
ancient Ban Chiang ceramic vessels from Thailand to the Berkeley
museum in 2006. Another donation last June
was rejected by the university because the items were more archaeological
than artistic, according to the warrant affidavit.
An online search of the museum's
collection revealed that 14 of its 16 Thai pieces had been donated
by the Markells. Jon Markell received an art history degree from
UC Berkeley.
Although the Berkeley museum
was not raided Thursday, spokespeople for the federal Immigration
and CustomsEnforcement agency and the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Los Angeles said the investigation was 'ongoing.'
'The searches executed today
were part of a larger investigation,' said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman
for the U.S. Attorney's Office. He declined to say whether the
Berkeley museum would be searched."
"Top Chronicle editor
giving up the reins" reports the AP.
The editor of the San Francisco
Chronicle said Wednesday that he is resigning to take a new assignment
for owner Hearst Corp., ending a colorful reign that included
headline-grabbing conflicts with the government and an attack
by a Komodo dragon.
Phil Bronstein will give
up his job steering the coverage of Northern California's largest
daily newspaper to become an editor-at-large for both the Chronicle
and Hearst's newspaper division."
"EBay CEO will call it quits, ending her
lucrative tenure:Leader will leave post March 31 and plans on
handing job to executive in charge of core businesses" reports the AP's Amanda Fehd.
Meg Whitman will soon step
down as chief executive of eBay Inc., the online auction company
that went from wobbly startup to multibillion-dollar household
name in her 10-year tenure.
Whitman, 51, had been reported
to be plotting the move and handing the job to John Donahoe, 47,
who has been heading eBay's core auction and e-commerce businesses.
She confirmed her March 31 departure as eBay reported fourth-quarter
earnings Wednesday.
Whitman will remain on eBay's
board of directors."
"State's foreclosure rate climbs to a 20-year
high" reports our
Times.
"Bay Area homeowners
continued to feel the housing bust in the fourth quarter as foreclosure
activity grew in most counties.
Actual foreclosures reached
a 20-year high in the state during the last quarter of 2007 as
homeowners fell behind on their mortgage payments, a real estate
research firm said Tuesday.
A total of 31,676 homes ended
up in foreclosure during the quarter ended Dec. 31, marking the
highest figure since DataQuick Information Systems began keeping
statistics in 1988.
The total represents a 30.8
percent increase from the previous quarter and a quadrupling from
6,078 foreclosures in the same quarter of 2006, DataQuick said.
In addition, 81,550 default
notices were sent to homeowners statewide from October to December,
up 12.4 percent from the previous quarter and more than 114 percent
in the year-ago quarter, according to DataQuick.
The Bay Area suffered with
an average rise of 136.9 percent, and counties experienced even
harsher numbers. Contra Costa rose 151.8 percent, Santa Clara
gained 147.4 percent, Sonoma rose 199.7 percent and Napa hit 152.9
percent."
"Sales of existing single-family
homes drop in 2007 by largest amount in 25 years" reports
Martin Crutsinger of the AP.
"Sales of existing homes
fell in December, closing out a horrible year for housing in which
sales of single-family homes plunged by the largest amount in
25 years. The median home price dropped for the entire year, the
first time that has occurred in four decades.
The National Association
of Realtors reported that sales of single-family homes and condominiums
dropped by 2.2 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual
rate of 4.89 million units.
For the year, sales of single-family
homes were down by 13 percent, the biggest drop since a 17.7 percent
plunge in 1982. The median price for a single-family home dropped
1.8 percent to $217,000.
That was the first annual
price decline on records going back to 1968. Lawrence Yun, the
Realtors' chief economist, said it was likely that the country
has not experienced a decline in housing prices for an entire
year since the Great Depression of the 1930s."
1/27/08
Richard of Eight Street's
rain gauge shows 2.7 inches for the storm, late Thursday to early
Saturday--and a total of 12.3 inches so far this rainy-season.
Pete and Geralyn's Potter
Creek rain gauge shows 2.5 inches from Friday to Saturday AM.
"LeapFrog to lay off 85 by April:Company's
stock has plunged more than 41 percent in thepast year"
reports George Avalos of our Times.
"LeapFrog Enterprises
Inc. plans to cut about 9 percent of its work force in a move
that the maker of technology-based educational products indicated
was part of an overall goal to restore LeapFrog as a profitable
and innovative company.
Emeryville-based LeapFrog
will shed about 85 jobs by mid-April, the company said in a statement.
The 85 jobs being eliminated
include about 20 employees who were let go Friday, company spokeswoman
Jaeme Sines said.
'Given the current business
climate, we believe that now is the best time to implement this
decision and to notify the impacted employees,' LeapFrog said
in its public statement.
The company more than a year
ago introduced what it called a 'Fix, Reload, and Grow Plan' that
included a series of changes."
"City considers aiding marijuana patients:Resolution
would declare area a sanctuary for medical pot users and distributors" reports Doug Oakley in our Times.
"Berkeley is considering
a plan to help get medical marijuana to patients if the Drug Enforcement
Administration shuts down any of the city-permitted cannabis clubs.
The plan by City Councilmen
Darryl Moore and Kriss Worthington already has drawn fire from
the Berkeley police, the city manager's office and the DEA.
The resolution before the
City Council on Tuesday night declares Berkeley a sanctuary for
medical marijuana users and distributors, and says 'the city itself
shall ensure a continuum of access to medical marijuana' if the
DEA moves in.
Whether that means the city
selling marijuana itself or helping another distributor get started
is up in the air at the moment, Moore said. He wants the police
chief and city manager to come back with
suggestions.
'The piece I originally suggested
is that in the wake of a DEA closure that the city would step
in and provide medical marijuana, and that was what the city manager
and the police chief had a problem
with,' Moore said. . . . "
Oakley continues "The
DEA doesn't like the idea of Berkeley selling marijuana."
Ok Councilman, . . . Berkeley
PD has a SWAT Team, but the DEA has helicopters, armed aircraft
and really nifty assault vehicles.
"Japanese PM warns of economy risk" reports BBC NEWS. "Mr Fukuda said
more action is needed to curb the markets.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo
Fukuda has warned of growing risks to the world economy in a speech
at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He said there was no need
for excessive pessimism, but that action was needed.
Mr Fukuda said the issue
would be discussed at a meeting of the Group of Seven leading
industrialised nations in Tokyo next month.
His words come after turbulence
in the financial markets sparked by fears the US could be headed
towards recession.
'Downside risks on the world
economy are on the rise against a backdrop of US subprime issues
and a record rise of oil prices,' he told business leaders and
economists attending the annual conference. . . .
His comments were echoed
by the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
who was also talking at the Davos meeting.
'Whatever the answer is on
a recession, what is clear is there will be a serious [US] slowdown
and it needs a serious response,' he said.
Mr Strauss-Kahn said that
central bank policies and interest rate handling were not enough
to remedy the global economic problems.
'We are facing global imbalances
and the subprime crisis is only part of it. We are facing also
currency imbalances, surpluses rising in some countries... all
those imbalances have to be addressed,' he said.
'The problem cannot only
be addressed by monetary policy, even tough monetary policy is
very important. We have to look at the whole picture.' "
"Banks 'may need an extra $143bn' " reports BBC NEWS.
Banks may need to raise as
much as $143bn to weather the credit crisis, Barclays Capital
reports.
They say the banks will need
extra money if bond insurers, who insure the products at the centre
of the sub-prime crisis, lose their top credit ratings.
If their credit ratings are
cut, it could make it harder for them to pay out, leading to banks
reporting bigger losses on sub-prime debt.
Fears about bond insurers
helped spark off this week's stock market falls.
The world's largest banks
have already admitted losing more than $100bn from mortgage bonds
gone bad."
"Review is in on Tesla
Roadster:Tests of the $98,000 2008 electric car pushed speed to
105 mph"
reports Matt Nauman in our Times.
"There has been a lot
in the news about Tesla Motors, as both a clean-technology poster
child and as a Silicon Valley startup struggling to bring its
first product to market. Finally, it's time to talk about the
cars.
In the first review by a
major automobile magazine, Motor Trend applauds the all-electric
2008 Tesla Roadster for its 'supple' ride and rapid acceleration.
Kim Reynolds, Motor Trend's technical editor, also notes a 'nasty
drivetrain buck,' which doesn't help the car's 'brittle' two-speed
transmission.
Mostly though, it's a positive
review of the $98,000 two-seater. It was posted online Wednesday
at http://www.motortrend.com and is slated for publication in
Motor Trend's March issue.
Writers from four other magazines
-- Car and Driver, Road & Track, Automobile and AutoWeek --
also drove close-to-production-ready prototypes of the Tesla in
December and are expected to publish their impressions soon.
Motor Trend's Reynolds wrote
about the car's quick acceleration from 0 to 60 mph:
'I'm being eerily teleported
down the barrel of a rail gun, head pulled back by a hard, steady
acceleration. Bizarre. And before too long, profoundly humbling
to just about any rumbling Ferrari or Porsche that makes the mistake
of pulling up next 'o a silent, 105-mpg Tesla Roadster at a stoplight.'
Don Sherman, technical editor
of Automobile magazine, also drove the Tesla roadster.
'Our overall impression was
much more positive than we anticipated, but the car is still a
work in
progress,' Sherman said."
More than you want to know
about the Tesla Roadster is
here.
8/28/08
On 1/12/08
I posted
Our Councilman Darryl Moore's
aid, Ryan Lau emails
As some of you may already
know, the parking lot at 7th Street and Dwight Street will soon
be closing, compounding the pre-existing parking issues in West
Berkeley. We have been able to negotiate with Bayer, the owners
of the lot, and they have been gracious enough to extend the lease
through January and we are still in discussions about a possible
further extension. Please come to our community meeting on Monday,
January 14th to discuss West Berkeley parking issues and help
us resolve parking issues in West Berkeley.
Who: Councilmember Darryl Moore, a Berkeley Transportation Planner,
a representative from Bayer and concerned community members
What: A community meeting to discuss solutions to the parking
issues at 8th Street and Dwight Way
When: Monday, January 14th, 2007 at 6PM
Where: The Sawtooth/Kawneer Building, Bay 1, 2525 8th Street (the
entrance closest to Dwight Way)
Sincerely, Ryan Lau
The meeting viewed the closing
of the parking lot at 7th and Dwight as part of west-Berkeley
parking and transportation problems as a whole--a mature, far-sighted
approach.
In this context, these issues
were raised: establishing a parking lot/garage; establishing a
shuttle from an off-site parking lot; expanding on-street parking
with angled parking on Carleton and 9th Street; establishing metered
and preferred parking; installing bicycle racks to encourage biking;
establishing/expanding shuttle service; expanding City-Car-Share
into the area; reducing safety concerns of walking to-and-from
vehicles by improving lighting and increasing police presence.
Only 25 people attended this
important, possibly ground-breaking, meeting.
Listened to Foggy Gulch four
times over the weekend
Foggy Gulch's first CD, "Fogged
In" is now available at
http://cdbaby.com/cd/foggygulch
We encourage you to buy it there, but
you can also buy one (or more!) from any band member, or email
eric@foggygulch.com for
information on how to get a copy.
Foggy Gulch will be playing at Julie's Coffee & Tea Garden
in Alameda
on the evening of January 29th and at The Music Store at 66 West
Portal
Ave in San Francisco on the afternoon of February 9th.
1/29/08
Pete's Potter Creek rain
gauge showed .6 inches from Saturday through Sunday morning and
.3 inches from Sunday through Monday morning.
1/28/08--6:36 AM--SERIOUS
irritant in front room, light head, lights flicker.
Pete Hurney et al have put
together a radio drama-group for KALX, the Barrow's Basement Radio
Players. Now made up of about a dozen players, its first script
is of a children's story. They hope to broadcast a 15 minute show
once a week.
I believe Da Boz' Seventieth
is coming up soon.
Learned
a lot with ole friend WD through the years
Read
his The music
was more impressive than the sound in
I
learned to love records.
W.D
cooks as well as he writes and here is a favorite recipe
Put
1/3
of a cup of extra virgin olive oil,
5 chopped cloves of garlic,
2 cups of drained and chopped canned
San Marzano Tomatoes, and
1/2 a pound chopped fresh spinach
in
a large saute pan
over medium heat for 15 minutes,
add
a
dash of salt and a twist of pepper
and
toss with
1
pound of al dente Spaghettini or Capellini
finish
with
2
or 3 torn leaves of basil and maybe Parmesan
This
recipe should serve three or four people, and W.D. suggests Respighi's
Gli Uccelli might be appropriate music during dinner.
1/31/08
Our David
Snipper sends a link to a website of some insight. Check out http://www.truthout.org
for an often alternate view.
"Feds Say Teece Must Pay $12 Mil for Tax
Dodges" reports
Richard Brenneman of our Planet.
"David J. Teece, the
UC Berkeley professor and until recently perhaps Berkeley's richest
private landlord, used illegal tax dodges and owes Uncle Sam millions,
says the IRS."
"Plan to fight climate change unveiled:Berkeley
leaders hope blueprint will inspire businesses, residents to do
their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions" reports Kristin Bender of the
Times.
City leaders
on Monday took a hydrogen-powered bus to a solar-powered building
made of rice straw bales to unveil an innovative new program to
reduce Berkeley's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
About a year
after 81 percent of voters approved Measure G, city leaders have
released the draft Climate Action Plan, a blueprint for getting
residents and merchants to do their part to save the planet from
global warming, city leaders said.
'Berkeley
is putting meat on the bones of Measure G, which is important.
It's a very (inclusive) effort and it's the sort of thing that
cities don't usually do,' said Dan Kammen, who directs the UC
Berkeley Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab and helped the city
develop the program."
"Gas price dips to less than $3 a gallon:Lower
amounts found in Richmond, Pittsburg stations, but prices
remain high in San Mateo, Lodi" writes the Times' Janis Mara.
As the Bay
Area and the country teeter on the brink of recession, the economic
clouds have one silver lining: lower prices for crude oil, and
hence for gasoline, which now costs less than $3 a gallon at many
Bay Area stations.
This comes
as a relief given skyrocketing gas prices, but it's not exactly
cheap. A year ago at this time, gas was selling for $2.57 gallon."
"Enthusiasts give club a stamp of approval:Philatelic
group brings together collectors, who enjoy the history
and learning behind the hobby" reports Marta Yamamoto of our Times.
"Stamp
collecting loomed large as a childhood hobby in the 1950s and
1960s. Stamp kits featuring an album, packets of stamps, tongs
and hinges were sold everywhere; even department stores had stamp
counters.
Stamp collecting
was a rite of passage.
Once school
years morphed into college, career and family, stamps and their
accouterments were packed away and forgotten, memories of a more
carefree life. Today, many collections are coming out of the closet,
thanks to groups such as the East Bay Collectors Club, which meets
each month in Kensington."
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