Editor’s Note: Due to ridiculously high traffic all day Friday, the Clog was sporadically down for much of the day. Thus we resorted to Twitter for all of our occupation coverage. The above slideshow is a culmination of all the pictures we posted on Twitter taken by various Daily Cal employees. What follows are the highlights from our Twitter coverage. You can expect a more comprehensive post later.

*BREAKING: Students take over Wheeler Hall. http://tr.im/FnuQ http://tr.im/Fnv8

*http://twitpic.com/q9fq6 – Badass math professor keeps teaching on side of Evans after fire alarm

*One (of) the organizers gave out Vice Chancellor Breslauer’s number and told people to call and ask for amnesty for Wheeler Hall occupiers

*According to one of the organizers, Breslauer has agreed to begin negotiations with them.

*Outside Wheeler, they’re chanting “it’s raining, it’s cold, but UC Berkeley won’t be sold.”

*People are collecting $5 donations from the crowd to pay the bails for protestors arrested this morning #ucstrike

* dailycal Raw footage of the protest from a Daily Cal source: http://bit.ly/5JAQSk #ucstrike

*Still in front of Wheeler. Not too much happening, but a band has appeared. #Ucstrike

*Protester on west side of Wheeler: “You’re sexy, you’re cute, take off that riot suit!”

*Organizers handing out food to the crowd. Like grilled cheese sandwiches. No kidding.

*Ananya Roy and others just entered Wheeler accompanied by police #ucstrike

*Professor George Lakoff announces students will be escorted out of Wheeler and released. #ucstrike

*Occupiers will be cited with misdemeanors #ucstrike

*Prof george lakoff: “their reps will meet with the chancellor, and the vice chancellor is in there now.” #ucstrike

*Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard just entered Wheeler. Wish we knew what was going on in there. #ucstrike

*Professor Roy and others just left building. Occupiers still inside methinks #ucstrike – V.W.

*Police crossing barricade and human chain. People yelling about tear gas #ucstrike

*Everybody is sitting down. Organizers say the goal is to “block and not act with violence.” #ucbprotest #ucstrike

*There are at least three TV cameras here. And a helicopter overhead. #ucstrike

*Chancellor Birgeneau: “Attempts to engage in a conversation with the 15 to 30 protestors estimated to be in the building have been refused.”

*Lights normally (for the Big Game week) on in front of Wheeler Hall just got turned off. #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*Someone broke out into an impromptu a capella rendition of “And I Am Telling You (I’m Not Going)” #ucstrike

*Daily Clog correspondent Jessie Tseng: “This is out of control.” #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*It’s raining. Also, they’ve set up a large spotlight in front of Wheeler pointing out at the crowd. #ucstrike

* dailycal UCB spokesperson Dan Mogulof confirms 41 people arrested. More updates to come. #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*Marika Goodrich: “For anyone who was mistreated, we will have people to represent you.” #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*Some people are heading to the bonfire, expecting Chancellor Birgeneau to speak at the Big Game Rally. #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*Protest fashion: I’ve noticed several people wearing police tape headbands #ucstrike

*Aakash Desai: “I was … on our property and I’m being charged with burglary? They’re stealing our futures!” #ucbprotest #ucstrike

*dailycal Latest Daily Cal video of the protest: http://bit.ly/5rl7zl #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*ASUC President Will Smelko is inside of Wheeler, waiting for people to get out. Many people are cheering. #ucbprotest #ucstrike

*People singing “Na na hey hey kiss him goodbye” by The Steam. It looks like all the people have left Wheeler. #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*New speaker recognizes that none of the occupiers’ demands were met. #ucstrike #ucbprotest

*Anthony Prince, lawyer helping the occupiers: “I can tell you there’s a sense of history tonight.” #ucbprotest #ucstrike

Image Source: Diana Newby
Wheeler Hall Occupation Ends Peacefully [Daily Cal]

You may have heard about some flyers flying around campus lately, so you might know that serious sh*t is supposed to go down in the next three days. To that end, the Clog’s got a calendar of events, a “schedule” if you will, that will (hopefully) clear things up a bit.

(Note: What follows is a straight copy+paste. Kind of text heavy. Peruse at your own risk.)

UC BERKELEY Strike Week: November 17th through 20th
Schedule of Events for the Solidarity Strike and Open University
ucstrike.com / ucsolidarity.org / solidarityalliance.ucb@gmail.com

STRIKE TO PROTEST UC REGENTS MEETING IN UCLA 11/17 TO 11/19

Tuesday, November 17th
Strike Kick Off Event
Cifford Odets’ “Waiting for Lefty”
A staged reading directed by Peter Glazer
Featuring UC Berkeley faculty, students and staff
8:00 pm, Booth Auditorium in Boalt Law School

Wednesday, November 18th
Day 1 of the Strike: WALK OUT
5:00 am. UPTE Picket lines start at construction sites
7:15 am. Main Picket lines begin at all campus entrances
8:00 am. Student sit-in on the steps of Dwinelle
11:00 am. Begin gathering on Sproul Plaza for the Rally
Noon. Strike Rally sponsored by the Solidarity Alliance
Speakers include (list and order subject to change)
Ananya Roy, UC Berkeley Professor and Solidarity Alliance
Solidarity Coalition at UC Davis: Catherine Fung (Grad Student), Joshua Clover (Professor) and Jeff Bergamini (UPTE)
Berkeley UCUC: Nancy Reiko Kato (UPTE), Joe Pulido (AFSCME), Juan Garcia (CUE),
Annie McClanahan (UAW), Mary Kelsy (UC-AFT)
Faculty Organizing Group at UCSC: Barbara Epstein (Professor)
Bob Hass, UCB Professor and Former Poet Laureate of the US
UCB Students: Noah Stern, Viola Tang, Sohir Albgal, Marika Goodrich, and others
Kathryn Lybarger, AFSCME and Solidarity Alliance

1:30 pm. Send off of activists taking the bus to UCLA
1:30 – 3:30 pm. March led by the Strike Committee of the General Assembly
4:00 pm. First Strike Meeting: What’s Next?

7:00 pm. Film Screening and Discussion of Salt of the Earth (1954)
ASUC Senate Chambers, Eshelman Hall

9:00 pm on. Solidarity Booty Shake in the Bear’s Lair Food Court. Late night chill-out in 370-371 Dwinelle (Fourth floor). Bring food, music, a blanket, relax.

Thursday, November 19th.
Day 2 of the Strike: OPEN THE UNIVERSITY / SHUT DOWN THE REGENTS
5:00 am. UPTE Picket lines start at construction sites
8:00 am. UPTE Picket lines at UCOP in Oakland
7:15 am. Main Picket lines begin at campus entrances
8:00 am. Sit-in on the steps of Dwinelle
9:00 am – 10:00 pm. Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of The Black Scholar
Lipman Room, 7th floor of Barrows, Born of the SF State Strike, all TBS events are in Solidarity
9:00 am – 3:00 pm. The Open University Lectures in the Bear’s Lair Food Court
9:00 – 10:00. Welcome to the Open University / International Skype Connection
10:00 – 11:00. Gray Brechin, “It doesnt have to be this way: Higher Ed in the New Deal”
11:00 – 12:00. Daniel Graham on “The Coup in Honduras”
12:00 – 1:00. Ananya Roy on “The Financialization of Everything”
1:00 – 2:00. Michael Cohen and Kathryn Lybarger on “The IWW and American Labor Radicalism”
2:00 – 3:00. TJ Clark on “From Print Capitalism to Screen Capitalism”

9:30 am – 3:00 pm. The Open University Workshops on Sproul Plaza
9:30 – 10:30. Field Trip and Experiential Learning Tour with AFSCME 3299
10:00 – 11:00. “This is what Berkeley did for me” a photo workshop
12:00 – 1:00. “What is Public? A participatory event in search of the public”
12:00 – 1:00. “Utopias at Work”
12:00 – 1:00. “Ladies and no-gentlemen: How to Avoid Sexism in Organizational Situations”
12:00 – 1:30. Capoeira on the Picket Lines: Demonstration and workshop at Bancroft and Telegraph
1:00 – 2:00. Race and Racism on Campus and In America
1:00 – 2:00. Katherine Lee, “Academic Labor: A Workshop for Students and Workers”
2:00 – 3:00. Annie McClanahan & West Hays: “Prisons and Education: Teaching in CA Prisons”
2:00 – 3:00. Gray Brechin & Peter Byrne, “UC Inc. Workshop on Researching the Regents”
MORE AS WANTED, NEEDED and ABLE
Noon. Striking Workers March from Bancroft and Telegraph
3:10 pm. Dump your trash at California Hall, Sponsored by ASFCME
Bring your campus trash and rally at the east entrance of California Hall.
4:00 pm. Second Strike Meeting: What’s Next?
7:00 pm. Film Screening: “Alcatraz is not an Island” 102 Krober Hall
40th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz & American Indian Heritage Month
8:00 pm. Musical performance by John Handy Quartet, Lipman Room, Barrows
Part of The Black Scholar Celebration
9:00 pm. Film Screening and Discussion of The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
ASUC Senate Chambers, Eshelman Hall
9: 30 pm onwards: Nuit du cinema at 370-371 Dwinelle. Bring dinner, a pillow and a blanket, chill-out.
Friday, November 20th
Day 3 of the Strike: ESCALATE
11:00 -12:00 am. Bridges Recruitment & Retention Center Rally on Sproul
Noon. Mass Gathering at California Hall
9:00 – 1:30 Celebration of The Black Scholar’s 40th Anniversary, Lipman Rm, Barrows
2:00 – 5:30 pm: Poetry Reading sponsored by The Black Scholar
10:00am – 5:00pm: 40th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz, Bancroft Hotel
Speakers include original occupiers Dr. Lehman Brightman, Dr. LaNada War Jack and Ilka Hartmann as well as student presentations.

Ah yes. The coup in Honduras, Harvey Milk, sexism … it all ties neatly together with the regents’ meeting. Wait, what?

Also note: Chancellor Birgeneau is at UCLA for the duration of the meeting, so, uh … dumping trash in front of California Hall won’t do much.

Image Source: Jon Bradley Photography under Creative Commons
Schedule Courtesy Zhivka Valiavicharska
Earlier: (Belly)dance the Night Away

After discovering the latest omen of the world’s coming demise, the Clog encourages Berkeley students to put down their books and enjoy their short-lived time on Earth.

According to Reuters, the English are some of the least attractive people on the planet—at least as measured by their 12.5 (for men) and 15 percent  (for women) acceptance rates into beautifulpeople.com, an “elite dating site” where hopeful members submit a picture to be voted on whether they’re beautiful or not. Of course, the voters were themselves inducted based on other beautiful people judging them, who were in turn inducted based on … well, you get the idea.

Fun facts: The average acceptance rate for applicants across all groups is 20 percent, while Swedish men and Norwegian women are accepted the most (65 and 76 percent, respectively). Though that’s probably not as interesting as the fact that someone took the time to make a site like this. A banner near the bottom of the page reads “Too ugly to sign up? Click here to browse BeautifulPeople as a guest.”

We just have one thing to say: What the hell, world?

Image Source: Paul Stevenson under Creative Commons
And the ugliest people are … [Reuters]
Earlier: Bat Blow Jobs

My roommate used up all the toilet paper. When you gotta go, you gotta go. I went. FML

So says someone at UC Berkeley FML, which has apparently been up since around Nov. 3. But the above comment, like a couple, seem to be general FML posts found across other campus FML sites—like at Stanford or Yale.

But here are some of the (few) for-sure Berkeley FML posts we found. Take them as you will.

I went to Berkeley undergrad for 4 years. Just when I thought I could escape, the ONLY law school I got into was Boalt. Now I’m here for 7 years. FML.

I didn’t get any work done today because I went to a football game and watched our team win. Why can’t I go to a school like Stanford where nobody cares about school spirit, even when we beat ranked opponents? FML

Yesterday, I decided to bike to class a little early so I could get myself a Frap at the Starbucks at West Gate. I then tried to balance said Frap on the handlebars of my bike.
Long story short — FML.

and our personal favorite,

Why does my major require me to know how to turn a function into a summation?! I’m not a fucking computer programmer. FML

Well, we’re sure you get the picture.

Image Source: Sabino . under Creative Commons
UC Berkeley FML [Site]
The Worst Days of Their Lives [Chronicle of Higher Ed] (may require CalNet login/subscription)

Sunday Shout-Out picks out the week’s stories that simply slipped our minds.

Last volleyball home game today at 12:30 p.m. and it’s free to all students. Plus: autographs! [Bear Bytes]

The hypothetical Mayor’s Urban Driving Competition: the most dangerous game? [NY Times]

A shitton of books for various Cal classes. But you won’t find any C++ books here. [UCB LJ]

Phillip Garrido apologizes “to every human being.” Somehow we don’t think this quite makes up for anything. [SFist]

Bears win a home game against the ranked Arizona Wildcats with a little circumstantial help [Daily Cal], [ESPN]

Image Source: Shirin Ghaffary, Daily Cal [ASIB]
Earlier: Bad News Bay-ers

And though registration is not required (admission is free), there is a RSVP form.

Below, the schedule of events according to the Wonderfest site:

10:00 am — Do Robots Make Better Astronauts?

* Chris McKay, Planetary Scientist, NASA-Ames Research Center
* Kanna Rajan, Principal Researcher for Autonomy, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

11:30 am — 4:00 pm — Bay Area Science Expo (Exhibitors Register)

* Art, books, crafts, & music for science lovers

Sudden Special Event: The Science of Magic 11:30 am

* Neuroscientist & magician Luigi Anzivino fools us with his hands and his head.

1:00 pm — Does Darwin Illuminate Emotion & Spirituality?

* Paul Ekman, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, UC San Francisco
* Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley

2:45 pm — Which Stars Support Intelligent Life?

* Ken Croswell, astronomer and author of The Lives of Stars and Magnificent Universe

3:15 pm — Science Laughs

* The comedy of Norm Goldblat & Brian Malow

4:00 pm — Can We Create Life?

* Carlos Bustamante, Professor of Physics and of Molecular & Cell Biology, UC Berkeley
* John Kuriyan, Professor of Molecular & Cell Biology and of Chemistry, UC Berkeley

Image Source: riumplus under Creative Commons
Wonderfest [Site]

Unlike the above video, the best theory for what causes this type of supernova requires two white dwarfs instead of one.

In a nutshell, UC Berkeley astronomers happened upon some data that classified a supernova (later creatively named SN2002bj) discovered in 2002 as Type II, which turns out to be pretty common, and realized the brightness and duration were closer to a Type Ia. Except the whole event was about 10 percent the duration and brightness of a typical Ia.

Berkeley astronomer and professor Alex Filippenko—who, by the way, discovered SN2002bj about 3.5 hours after the original discoverers—says it’s “qualitatively different from the complete disruption of a white dwarf, known as a Type Ia supernova, or the collapse of an iron core and rebound of the surrounding material, so-called ‘core-collapse supernovae.’”

And while the data is stranger than usual, the Berkeley astronomers found a paper published before the reclassification that sheds brilliant, piercingly radiative light onto what infernal mechanism could possibly explain SN2002bj’s odd solar flare for the dramatic.

And Filippenko’s thoughts on discovering new types of supernova? “It whets my appetite for what else we might find out there with these large, wide-sky surveys … but these new surveys will find thousands or hundreds of thousands of supernovae.”

supernova explosion [harami111]
Rapid supernova could be new class of exploding star [NewsCenter]
Supernova fits into a new class [Chron]

This Tuesday, enjoy some free pizza on Memorial Glade courtesy of Caliber Magazine, which touts itself as “the most talked-about publication on campus.” Of course, the free food isn’t the main reason for the event. Just the primary reason.

But seriously, the description according to Facebook:

Next Tuesday, November 3rd, Caliber Magazine will hold a blowout party in memorial glade. We will have UNLIMITED FREE PIZZAS from North Beach Pizza and tons of free food and givaways. Preview our new issue and mingle with Caliber members as well as HUNDREDS of Berkeleyans, who we like to think didn’t just come for the free food.

You don’t have to RSVP, this event is open to all passers-by.

If you feel like it, you’ll also probably be able to pick up a copy of their new issue. If it’s anything like their website, it should be pretty slick.

EDIT: Also, it’ll happen from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

World’s Greatest Pizza Dough Twirler [YouTube]
Caliber Magazine Issue 1 Launch Pary! [Facebook]

It seems like the Lawrence Berkeley Lab is always getting in the news for something or other. Now, it’s for getting a pretty sweet cut out of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act pot—$7 million, to be vaguely precise. And this time the funding is for geothermal energy research.

“Now wait a minute, Clog,” you suspiciously ask.

“Isn’t geothermal energy what kept the human race alive in a machine-run world in the Matrix series? Is this just the beginning to the inevitable end of humanity as we know it?”

Well, no, actually virtual reality worlds and Keanu Reeves have little to do with it.

Basically, there are geothermal technologies out there already. And they kind of suck. The LBL has four programs looking into methods that can get energy where the current technologies are woefully impotent.

The four programs are known as: Fluid Imaging, Estimating Fracture Surface Area, CO2 As Fluid and THMC Modeling. Respectively, they are probably way more complicated than a layman’s explanation.

Fun facts about geothermal energy, taken from the LBL site:
*Total electricity used by the U.S. that is generated by geothermal energy is less than 1 percent.
*Eight percent of renewable energy is made geothermally.
*Enhanced geothermal technologies could go up 40 times, up to about 10 percent of total U.S. energy consumption.

Image Source: VancityAllie under Creative Commons
Berkeley Lab Receives $7 Million for Enhanced Geothermal Energy Technologies [LBL]

Add another Berkeleyan to the growing list of people winning prizes for being awesome. This time it’s Geoff Marcy, astronomy professor and planet hunter extraordinaire. Yes, that’s right, he freaking hunts god damn planets for a living. Planets. How’s that for a line on the good ol’ resumé?

Professor Marcy won this year’s Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization this time. We say “this time” as some may remember when he shared the million dollar Shaw Prize in astronomy a couple years ago. This time around, however, the prize money is a tithe of what he got from the Shaw Prize.

Granted, $5000 isn’t a whole lot compared to some of the other prizes out there, but the award’s still pretty damn impressive. And everyone knows science isn’t about making money, anyway. It’s about finding aliens and destroying them before they get to us. We kid, of course (*WE’RE NOT KIDDING*).

Professor Marcy will receive the award on Nov. 7 on the Stanford campus as part of the two-day Wonderfest, part of which takes place on our very own campus. (As a side note, those who are interested in going when Wonderfest is on our campus should check out their site—more details later.)

And while the award comes from Carl Sagan’s amazing efforts at getting the public interested in science, we only wonder if Professor Marcy will follow Sagan in another field for which he is little-known: autotuned-up music.

Image Source: Work-Time-Fun—WTF under Creative Commons
A Glorious Dawn [Symphony of Science]
Astronomer Geoff Marcy, Earth’s Premier Planet Hunter, Wins Carl Sagan Prize [Wonderfest] via Reuters