A couple who felt a UC Berkeley site on the relationship between evolutionary theory and religion violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment had their case thrown out by a federal appeals court. Oh snap! Score one for science.
It seems the controversial statements were read more »
Posted by
Danica Li on Friday, October 10, 2008 08:39 am
Students from the Cal Berkeley Democrats and the Berkeley College Republicans came to blows–er, cozied up for a nice tete-a-tete last night at the undergrad Political Science department’s annual debate. We heard it went off rather bloodlessly. Are eternal enemies getting toothless in their old age? [Daily Cal]
After a 44-year-old Berkeley man died in his apartment, his body remained undisturbed and undiscovered for at least two weeks. Meanwhile, his dementia-afflicted mother-who was occupying the same apartment-piled up about 20 garbage bags in her confusion, which helped mask the smell of the corpse. It may sound like a lurid Palahniuk splatter-fest, but it really happened. [Berkeley Daily Planet]
Two days ahead of his much ballyhooed reading at Zellerbach Hall, perennial favorite Haruki Murakami was passed over by the Nobel Prize committee for some French dude that no one’s ever heard of. Not that we’re trying to give detractors who insist that Americans are ignorant pigs any more ammo than they already have. [National Post]
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Friday, October 10, 2008 01:12 am
As students in Political Science 179 filed into Wheeler Auditorium Tuesday afternoon, the air was abuzz with speculation about the day’s “surprise” guest speaker, who they’d been told they wouldn’t want to miss. They scanned the room, their straining eyes finally coming to a dead stop upon a familiarly well-coiffed, well-dressed, well–well, everything‘d person.
Spotted: Mayor Gavin Newsom, causing a hot fuss on campus … again. That’s right–just days after the prospect of catching a glimpse of his Christian Bale-like countenance drew a huge crowd to Upper Sproul Plaza, the ever-sexy civil rights champion was back in front of a ready and willing Berkeley audience, driving his message home. read more »
Posted by
Danica Li on Thursday, October 09, 2008 12:43 am
The discerning sunbather will notice that Memorial Glade is no longer as it once was. Picket fences litter the grass. The ground is beginning to bald in some spots and turn to swamp in others. And then the Chancellor went and built hisself a humble domicile on top of it all, replete with crystal chandeliers and lavishly sculpted shrubbery. We’re pretty sure he threw some pretty sick parties in there, ones that none of us were invited to. Sulky face.
That’s all a long and convoluted way of saying that our favorite patch of jumbo lawn is getting rehauled by the university this semester. The restoration’s going to start hogging up space starting now, but the hardcore fences are expected to go up in November. Sound familiar? That’s because the university’s on something of a roll, what with the Sather Gate restoration getting underway this week as well. Bummer - we’re not sure where we’re going to go to chuck frisbees at Fido anymore. Fie on construction!
Image Source: jasonunbound under Creative Commons
Turf restoration to close Memorial Glade [Berkeley News]
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Wednesday, October 08, 2008 12:01 am
The following is a simulated real conversation.
You: Hey best friend, would you like to have a couple of tequila shots with me on this fine Tuesday night?
Best Friend: No. I have a midterm tomorrow.
You: Please, it will be fun. I promise.
Best Friend: No.
You: OK, your loss. I’m going to go consume some alcohol now, and then I think I will attend to some official business, via Gmail. read more »
Sather Gate, the southern portal to maze-like buildings and soporific lectures, will be restored this school year in an effort to protect the campus icon. Don’t be afraid, younguns, she’ll be looking fresh and perky again in no time!
A $1.5 million restoration project will focus on the deteriorating areas of the gate. The schedule is as follows:
* Friday, Oct. 10: scaffolding erected around the gate, preparations to remove brass and steel metal work
* Thanksgiving: naked gate! Pillars and glass orbs will remain.
* Next spring: a triumphant and beautiful return
We fear the sight of a skeletal Sather Gate, but we guess we’ll just have to make do while the restoration team’s sprucing up our own bronze lady.
Image Source: Raymond Yee under Creative Commons
Iconic Sather Gate to be restored to its former majesty [NewsCenter]
Posted by
Danica Li on Tuesday, October 07, 2008 10:58 pm
Our lives wouldn’t be complete without a yearly dose of rankings fever. The Economist released their (completely irrelevant, unnecessarily reductionist, totally and without a doubt worthless) rankings of the best full-time MBA programs in the world early this week. Naturally, Haas made the list. The surprise is that someone beat the bigwigs to the punch: Schools in both Switzerland and Spain ranked higher than the usual US titans. Crazy business people! Well, Swiss craziness, which is considerably less crazy than actual craziness.
List of the programs after the jump. read more »
There was once a time when the social stigma of Joe/Jane Schmo in the school marching band hovered somewhere between “geek,” “nerd” and “still ain’t gettin’ any.” Of course, this is also the kid that will go on to become the drummer of the biggest Emo rock band in the Midwest, but that’s beside the point.
We’ve also heard of “sexually active band geeks,” a concept which we suppose was fabricated and then left up to interpretation. And interpret, they did–UC Davis bandsmen are reported to have driven their new band director to the point of filing a sexual harassment complaint with the university. Here’s a condensed list of their raunchiness: read more »
Berkeley teachers, that is. PZ Meyers and the Daily Planet tell us an elementary school teacher at the Berkeley Unified School District, to the shock and awe of many students, told her class that neither Harry Potter, Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny are real. But God is. read more »
Posted by
Danica Li on Sunday, October 05, 2008 08:17 pm
There be some mutinous mutterin’ going on not an hour’s drive from San Francisco. Sick and tired of being ignored by lawmakers and political somebodies in Sacramento, a dozen Northern California and Oregon counties are plotting to form a brand new state. ‘Tis truth! If approved, Jefferson State would become the nation’s 51st - thereby ruining the beautiful proportions of the American flag, not to mention that one sing-along happy song that’s still being taught to toddlers by angelic grade-school mommies across the nation.
In scores of stores between Klamath Falls, Ore., to Dunsmuir, Calif., the hypothetical state’s flags hang in brazen tribute to the secession movement. Of course, the venture’s looking a mite quixotic at the moment, with one million signatures needed to even land the proposal on the California ballot. Tough deal, when Siskiyou County’s got 15,000 more bovines than it does people.
Advocates raise legitimate concerns - that Oregon and California aren’t taking care of their own, and that the region’s lifeblood industries, like fishing and timber, are being unfairly hampered by state regulations. Other concerns, like the effects of the flat-lining economy, rank as well. Get in line, guys.
Image Source: melynaguona under Creative Commons
A move to secede on California-Oregon border [SF Chron]
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