9/7/08

"Best leads Cal rout over Wash. State" writes Nicholas K.Gernaios of the AP.

"Jahvid Best ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as California blasted Washington State 66-3, spoiling coach Paul Wulff's first game back in Pullman since he was a star player in the late 1980s.

Best made his first career start and California (2-0, 1-0) produced 505 yards for its most lopsided victory over Washington State in the 69-game series, topping a 61-0 win in 1922."

so, a happy Potter Creek afternoon

 

is had by Marsha W

 

 

"Chauvinists less unnerving than ambiguous men," a report in the New Scientist.

"Chauvinistic men can be petty and infuriating, but that might be as far as it goes. Women are more unnerved by not knowing a man's views than by overt sexism - so much so that they perform worse in exams.

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton at the University of California, Berkeley, asked 170 female undergraduates to take a written test."

 

 

"'Yellowjackets,' Berkeley Rep teen-angst play" is a preview by the Chronicle's Chad Jones.

"Teens rule the airwaves thanks to Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. Teens rule TV - here comes yet another '90210' knockoff. And at the moment, teens are ruling Bay Area theater.

In addition to the rocking and rolling teens of 'Spring Awakening,' opening at the Curran Theatre this week, we have a whole cast of retro teens in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's season-opening world premiere, 'Yellowjackets,' now in previews.

Commissioned by Berkeley Rep, 'Yellowjackets' is about life at Berkeley High School circa 1994, when racial tensions were high, violence was on the increase and the big debate was about tracking - categorizing students according to certain measures of intelligence and grouping them in classes. Playwright Itamar Moses, 30, comes to this period piece with authenticity. He was a junior at Berkeley High in 1994 and was the editor of the troubled (and boycotted) student newspaper, the Jacket (named for Berkeley High's mascots, the Yellow Jackets).

 

And "Yellowjackets: Drama" is the review in the Chronicle by Robert Huwitt.

"Racial conflicts, sexual awakenings, sexism, bullying, clueless adults, gangs, love problems, family demands, drugs, inflexible rules, kids hoping to game the system and teachers trying to close down the school newspaper unless it complies with their ideological demands - oh yes, and academics. Itamar Moses crams enough issues into 'Yellowjackets' to fill a theater season.

Or to convey a sense of the traumatic firestorm of pressures we call a high school education. Which is more than appropriate, given that the world premiere that opened Berkeley Repertory Theatre's 41st season Wednesday is set just a couple of blocks away, at Berkeley High, Moses' alma mater. Commissioned and staged by Artistic Director Tony Taccone, 'Yellowjackets' is the local debut for Moses, a 30-year-old Berkeley native who's become one of the nation's hottest emerging playwrights.

Chaotic to riveting and confusing effect and bristling with intelligence to electrifying and tendentious degrees, 'Yellowjackets' is both brimming with promise and something of a disappointment to anyone familiar with Moses' widely produced brainteaser 'Bach at Leipzig' (a hit at Shakespeare Santa Cruz this summer)."

 

 

Ms. Jones reports "UC Berkeley grove cleared of most trees

"Arborists nearly finished clearing an embattled UC Berkeley grove Saturday, leaving a stripped, lone redwood occupied by four protesters.

The drone of chain saws and chippers drowned out the howls of protesters as arborists removed 35 of 42 redwoods, laurels and other trees from the site in preparation to build a $124 million athletic training center. The university expects to remove the remaining trees today, with the exception of the occupied redwood.

Twenty-eight trees around the perimeter will remain, and a mature redwood will be transplanted."

 

 

"California's community colleges having a swell time. Enrollments surge as folks seeking retraining join first-time students" reports the LA Times.

"Recent high school graduates and mid-career adults are flocking to community colleges this fall as California campuses report enrollment jumps tied to the weak economy.

Administrators say that when the economy dips, enrollment at community colleges typically surges. This fall, students are banking on these modest workhorses of California's higher education system to ease their way through the economic downturn, opting for the closer, cheaper alternatives to state universities. Older students, in particular, are seeking training at two-year colleges to escape declining industries."

 

 

 

our Jarad emails of "gangs in Berkeley"

from Berkeley PD

Hispanic Gangs:

West Side Berkeley - WSB, XIV, X4, 14 - wear red & blk & Raider
South Side Berkeley - SSB, XIII, X3, 13 - wear blue  (No longer around, usually claim Border Brothers)
Border Brothers- BB - wear blue
Player Girl Gangsters -PGG-Brown Pride Locas - BPL, Latina gang, associates of WSB
Don't Fuck with Latinas - DFL, Latina gang, associates of SSB (Haven't had contact with any in several years)

Asian Gangs:
Sons of Death - SOD- San Pablo
Krazy Lao Boys - KLB - Oakland
South Side Boys - Crips - Oakland

Black Gangs:
Waterfront - H20 - drug based  (Claim 415 or Kumi in prison)
Black Guerilla Family - BGF
North Pole - combo Berkeley/Oakland,
San Pablo Posse - SPP
Cold Gunnaz - North Oakland

Drug area crews
Ansar El Mohammed

White gang:
Nazi Low Riders - NLR
 These gangs have at some point in the past 10 years come into contact with Berkeley PD, but only a few are consistently active in Berkeley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9/8/08

our Cameron Woo emails a response to Jarad's email

What colors do the no-development and pro-development gangs wear?

 

 

"Woman reunites with son" reports Texas AP News.

 "His sudden disappearance left her frantic and thinking the worst, but all that seemed to fade when Cathy Wilson tearfully reunited with her son, Matthew, at a California jail.

The preschool teacher saw her college-age son for the first time in eight months on Aug. 19 after he was taken into custody by University of California police in Berkeley. Officers arrested him on suspicion of stealing a laptop computer when they found him in a campus classroom, but he was never charged.

Authorities placed Matthew Wilson on suicide watch and held him at a mental health hospital in the Bay Area for three days.

'Oh Matt, I love you. I'm so happy to see you,' Cathy Wilson recalled telling her son that day. 'You're safe. I'm so happy this nightmare's over.'

She told The Oklahoman that her son said he loved her and was sorry for what happened. Matthew Wilson has decided not to do media interviews, his mother said.

The academically gifted student from the southeast Oklahoma community of Haworth was attending Rice University on a full scholarship when he disappeared during finals week in December. No one who knew him had heard from him since his disappearance.

Cathy Wilson'' search for her son drew national media attention and has been compared to the Jon Krakauer book, 'Into the Wild," which was adapted into a 2007 film. The story is about a college student who cut off contact with his family after graduating from Emory University in 1990.

 

 

 

"UC Berkeley organizes Asian American photo archive" writes Kristin Bender of the Oakland Tribune.

"The Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley has recently completed organizing and archiving what is thought to be one of the largest Asian American photograph collections held in a public institution worldwide, university officials said.

With a $180,000 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, more than 200,000 photos taken by professional photographer Kem Lee, documenting San Francisco's Chinatown from the 1940s to the 1980s, were sorted, labeled, cataloged and neatly placed in Manila folders.

Researchers, scholars, filmmakers and others have come from all over the world to see the photos and use them for their work, said UC Berkeley Asian American Librarian Wei Chi Poon, who oversaw the project and has worked at the library for more than three decades.

Asian American leaders said there is a growing demand for Asian American documents, such as photos."

 

 

 

Marketwatch.com reports "Society and peer-reviewed publisher and software developer, The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress), announced the appointment of a new Publisher, Alison Denby. Alison will be responsible for the bepress journals publishing program, which includes 42 owned and scholarly society journals. She will report to the CEO of bepress, Gordon Tibbitts, and will be based at bepress headquarters in California.

This appointment reflects the growth and depth of bepress's journals collection and its commitment to ensuring that its partners have access to the best scholarly journals and services in their fields. Alison will support this goal by leading the expansion of bepress's journals publishing program." 

 

 

our Angela emails the heads-up

 

 

 

"State bills tough on scrap metal recyclers" writes Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"Shreds of aluminum, strings of copper and odd hunks of bronze flow down Davis Street in San Leandro, carried in the beds of pickups and the sometimes bloodied hands of men.

These morsels of metal get heaved onto weighing scales, sorted and flung into bins, crushed by machines and hauled away by semis before being shipped off to rapidly developing Asia, a continent that devours metal.

That demand has driven up metal prices, over the past three years more than doubling the price for copper alone to $3-plus per pound.

Police believe the high prices have lured another element into the mix: crank addicts, who have gone beyond scavenging scrap metal to stealing - everything from manhole covers to farm equipment.

Legislators seeking to take addicts out of the system have passed bills that would regulate scrap metal dealers in unprecedented ways. The dealers would be required to photograph every seller and their goods, take thumbprints, keep extensive records and pay out only after a three-day wait." 
   

 

 

 

"US takes over key mortgage firms" reports BBC NEWS.

"US President George Bush says mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been taken over because they posed 'an unacceptable risk' to the economy.

The two companies account for nearly half of the outstanding mortgages in the US, and have lost billions of dollars during the US housing crash."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9/11/08

"Betty's Secret Ingredient" is a story in the Leadership Journal by Mark Labberton, pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley.

"On a dark and dismal day a while back, my wife and I went for coffee at a place we like. We each ordered a latté and chose a pastry to split. The clerk, noting the other pastry we almost chose, put it in a separate bag and said, 'Here, I think you'd really like this one too.'

No doubt we would, I thought, nearly objecting. Then I saw in his eyes that he was giving us a gift. That was just the start.

One of this bakery's specialties is their chicken pot-pie, and that sounded like perfect comfort food on such a day. So as we came to the cash register, we told our clerk we wanted to buy one of those as well. He placed a full, delicious looking pot-pie in our bag, and then stepped to another part of bakery. When he returned he had a scrumptious, whole apple pie that he gently laid in our bag as well, saying, 'You will love this. It goes great with the chicken pot pie.' It was a gift, simply and unmistakably.

Welcome to Bake Sale Betty's, an unmarked bakery on an unattractive corner in Oakland. Over the years, their building has been the site of many failed businesses, mostly the check-cashing ilk. Betty's is not failing. In fact, Betty's rules and it has for several years."

 

"A Delicious Revolution" by Celia Barbour on oprah.com ends with references to our Alice Waters.

"If you want to dodge obesity, avoid chemicals, and reawaken your taste buds, take a pass on industrial food and think flavorful free-range chicken; lean, grass-fed beef; tomatoes that still smell of the garden. There's a growing movement that's transforming what we put in our mouths."

 

"The Alfresco Experience" include recommendations by Michael Bauer in the Chronicle.

"Until a few years ago, it was tough to find a really good place in the Bay Area to dine outdoors; now that has changed. For one thing, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has reduced the permit fees for outdoor tables, so more restaurants are adding that European sidewalk-cafe sensibility."

 

 

"Last tree-sitters descend from UC Berkeley grove" is a reports by Michelle Locke of the AP.

"Protesters came down from a redwood tree at the University of California, Berkeley, ending a 21 month occupation of a campus grove aimed at stopping construction of a new sports center.

The last remaining tree-sitters were descending peacefully Tuesday afternoon after reaching an agreement with the school, but were immediately detained by police.

Officials had said they were prepared to forcibly remove them and had constructed scaffolding around the tree to mount the effort.
The protest began in late 2006 in an effort to prevent the school from clearing the trees to make room for the new sports center.

The campus has promised to plant three new trees for every one cut." 

 

"Sport complex a team effort among 5 cities, park district" reports Keavin Leahy in the Times.

"It took about five years for East Bay officials to realize an ambitious plan to build two huge, state-of-the-art sports fields on a picturesque swath of bayside land in West Berkeley.

It took 15 minutes, officials said, for the fields to be booked solid until next March by eager young athletes in more than 20 leagues ranging from rugby to ultimate Frisbee."

"Cal's Big-Ticket Football Plan" is a report by Tom Van Riper at forbes.com. 

"Big-time sporting events are getting so expensive that some fans joke about the need to take out a second mortgage to renew their season tickets.

It's no joke anymore. The University of California, Berkeley, is betting some its wealthier alums will do just such a thing--sort of. The school is taking a stab at raising $1 billion for its athletic department over the next 30 years with a first-of-its-kind plan for premium season football ticket holders. Instead of renewing season tickets each year, fans will be asked to effectively lock in for life. Their pitch: Commit now, coughing up as much as a quarter-million dollars in the process, and own your seats for up to 50 years, with full rights to pass them down to the kids or sell them in the secondary market.

As a public university, the school's plan would be subject to approval from the California Board of Regents."

 

 

"A temple for the worship of science" is a story at new scientist.com that begins

"This, I imagine, is the sort of thing that might kick off 'science worship' sermons in the 'Atheon' - a two-story downtown Berkeley building conceived 'to provide a spiritual home for rational people in California' "

 

 

 

"Antibody May Help Lower Blood Sugar in Type 2 Diabetes Patients" by Drucilla Dyess of healthnews.com is a report about Xoma Ltd of Potter Creek.

"An experimental antibody has been shown to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes patients with a single dose.

These encouraging results have been indicated by early-stage trials. Xoma Ltd., a Berkeley, California based biotechnology company, has developed an injectable drug, known as XOMA 052, that could potentially improve blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes patients with as little as one dose per month. The antibody works by blocking interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), a protein that causes inflammation-linked to damage of insulin-producing cells called islet cells."

 

 

 

"Phony bank guard turns himself in. Randall Thiel and another man are accused of stealing bank deposits" is report by Mark Workhoven of station KEX, Portland of the continuing saga of the Tigard Oregon crooks that "got caught" in Northern California--one here, the other in Hillsboro

"A second suspect is arrested for allegedly posing as a security guard to steal bank deposits.  19 year old Randall Thiel turned himself in Monday afternoon to police in Hillsboro.  He and 20 year old Sterling Walmer Hooten are accused of dressing up in blue uniforms with ID badges and guns, then standing outside a Tigard Wells Fargo Bank and telling people that the night deposit was broken. They had put a sign on the drop box saying it was out of order.  The suspects then suggested that the bank customers put their deposits in a big black box, so the money could be turned over to the bank in the morning. Two Tigard businesses fell for the scam, and the suspects escaped with their money. Last week, Hooten was arrested in Berkeley California for breaking into a dorm. Police searched his San Francisco apartment, and say they found the fake guard uniforms. Now both Hooten and Theil are lodged in Washington County Jail on charges of theft 1." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eternally useful links

Bay Area home prices from sfgate.com

 

Bay Area foreclosures from sfgate.com

 

Our City Council update is here.

 

Our Planning Commision update is here

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Best gas prices in 94710, as well as all of US and Canada, are here at gasbuddy.com

Kimar finds Costco routinely has the lowest price.

 

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/

 

Markets is not just a reference for Berkeley-Hills radicals with 1.5 mil homes and considerable portfolios.

 

Our City of Berkeley Boards and Commissions page is here--redone and friendly.

 

 

Berkeley Police reports at insidebay area.com are 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:

Our new Area Coordinator is Officer Karen Buckheit, Berkeley PD - 981-5774 kbuckheit@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