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 flair 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]

So what is parkour exactly? Etymologically (oh yes, we’re going there) “parkour” comes from the French word “parcours” which means “route.” Basically, though, it’s a lot of people trying to find the most interesting way to get around, including leaping from building to building, jumping off walls, entering a room through a window, and lurching crazily from surface to surface.

The group in Berkeley seems pretty hardcore. (Hardcore parkour–yes, we had to go there, too.) These traceurs (the trendtastic word for parkour devotees) get accolades from bystanders.

Albert Kong, a linguistics student at Berkeley, is one such dude. “He moves around objects like river water around a stopped canoe. He looks both graceful and strong in the process,” the article gushes.

Pure poetry. Are we the only ones sensing a martial arts movie in the works? “Parkour on Lower Sproul,” perhaps? We can see the tagline right now: One man. One million ways to get around.

French-born parkour goes mainstream [Inside Bay Area]
Image source: JB London under Creative Commons

Yes, they are singing about trading in their souls for a pair of bunny ears and a cotton tail.

Upon further investigation of the matter, we discovered not only that this completely ridiculous–nay, ridiculously awesome–ditty was penned by two Noteworthy members back in 2003, but also that Noteworthy will actually be performing tomorrow evening at 8 p.m. in 10 Evans Hall!

For just $3 (students), you can see them perform with two other Berkeley a capella groups, DeCadence and the California Golden Overtones. Incidentally, Noteworthy’s manager is named “Joey Goodknight.” Yeah. Pretty much, we’re thinking about going just so we can cheer that name repeatedly, and maybe make some unwarranted puns.

Noteworthy-Fluffy Bunny [YouTube]

Mark Yudof released a little love letter to the UC system this week. After reviewing his proposal to enlarge the role of the federal government in public education several times, we give you our reader’s digest version of his strategy:

1. Reward bleeding hearts. Gives Pell Grants to schools that “enroll the neediest students.” Payola: about $2.5 billion for university core operations.
2. Give more money to grad students. Supplements federal research awards to enhance and expand graduate programs. Requires a state or non-federal matching fund. Payola: $3 billion per year.
3. Force all UCs to fight in a Battle-to-the-Death cage match, last school standing wins a lot of money. Otherwise known as the “Race to the Top model”, this is a competition for federal funding based on “consistent enrollment of Pell recipients, additional institutional support for low and middle income families, targeted graduation rates and low loan default rates.” Potential Payola (if Darwin is on our side): $4.35 billion.
4. Funnel more money into humanities research with a competitive grant program. “Creative” state efforts to improve graduation rates rewarded with cash for the soft sciences and other disciplines often neglected by federal funding. Payola: $2.5 billion.
5. Rip off the “Build American Bonds Model”. Pension obligation bonds. Whatever that means. Payola: We’ll leave this one to the econ majors in the room.

All we can say is, if Yudof really is plotting a UC smackdown for cash grants, things are gonna get ugly.

Image Source: same_same under Creative Commons
“Exploring A New Role For Federal Government In Higher Education” [UCOP]

A weird foursome: could it be that teenagers prone to depression sleep less and use the internet more, resulting in worse depression and tossing them into a real nasty sleep minimizing, internet and depression maximizing situation? Of course we, sound and sturdy early twenty-somethings that we are, are far beyond silly adolescent things like all-nighters, depression and the internet. But hey, how ’bout our soft minded kid brothers and sisters? Yet another psych study gets underway:

Thirteen- to 19-year-olds are being recruited by UC Berkeley’s Sleep and Psychological Disorders Laboratory, which, in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente, Oregon, will study their sleep and psychological disorders. A connection between a good night’s rest and mental soundness has been established in adults, but this has yet to be confirmed in adolescents. Of course, we’d be slightly surprised if the reverse turned out to be.

In 1988, a survey of 10th and 12th graders revealed that about 45 percent of them regularly went to bed after midnight on school nights. The UC Berkeley study will provide modern numbers on this account, the expectation being that the internet has stretched kids’ waking hours more than a little. All remains to be seen …

Image Source: angeluzzo under Creative Commons.
Study to explore if more sleep will help teens shake off depression [News Center]

Perhaps in rebuttal to the Mission District’s Dia De Los Muertos freakshow (complete with Michael Jackson tributes, elaborate headdresses, and San Francisco skeleton babies up way past their bedtimes), B-town is hosting its own celebration of the inevitable: a “Green Funeral Fair.”

Because people in Berkeley love to compost things, including each other.

Regardless, nothing says “Fun In the Sun” on a Saturday afternoon like writing your own environmentally conscious obituary.

The fair is slated to happen at noon this Saturday, Nov. 7 at Grace North Church, located at 2138 Cedar St. Promised activities include biodegradable casket and sugar skull decorating, wheat weaving (what, like pretzels?), textile repair, and stone tomb carving.

The “Berkeley Patients Group,” (aka the Berkeley Medical Marijuana Store) is providing the music. They’re also giving away $150 prizes for the Best Woman’s and Man’s Funeral Hat, judged by May Henderson of the Oakland Hat Library.

Because why wouldn’t Oakland have its own Hat Library?

Image Source: kirinqueen under Creative Commons

Moving right along…

7:46 p.m. After searching in vain for the past 20 minutes for a good Airbears location in Pauley Ballroom, I’ve determined there isn’t one. If my connection dies, I’ll take to the Clog’s twitter, so try there.

7:52 p.m. Will Smelko is introducing the panel, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, Executive Vice Chancellor Breslauer, Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard and Erin Gore, assistant vice chancellor of the budget.

7:54 p.m. Definitely heard some boos and hisses for Birgeneau and Breslauer. Harsh.

7:58 p.m. “The funding per student (from the state) is exactly half of what it was twenty years ago” -Birgeneau

8:00 p.m. “What do you do when you find out you’re missing millions of dollars? … it ruins your summer vacation.” – Birgeneau. Oh, Bobby B.

8:03 p.m. Fee increases get booed.

8:04 p.m. Birgeneau says he hopes to cut tens of millions of dollars by improving administrative operations.

8:06 p.m. “This will impact significantly students from middle class families” -Birgeneau on fee increases

8:10 p.m. “We’ve called on the Obama administration … we’ve appealed to them to save public education,” Birgeneau said. “If the the federal government were to invest in public education half of what they spent on AIG, then that would be enough to permanently solve the problem for about the top 20 public research universities.”

8:11 p.m. March on Sacramento planned to demand investment in California public higher education.

8:12 p.m. “I’ve seen it all, but I’ve never seen it this bad”-Breslauer. I’m getting depressed.

8:15 p.m. Did I mention that I got one of those little golf pencils to write a question to the panel with? It was very exciting. If you’ve got a question you’d like me to ask, comment it.

8:20 p.m. Jonathan Poullard says they’re trying to keep campus housing costs stable.

8:30 p.m. “The idea of democratization of the Regents is a canard. The Regents did not bring this upon us.”-Breslauer

8:33 p.m. “I don’t understand the disinvestment by the state. I have some conspiratorial ideas, but they’re kind of paranoid and I don’t think I want to be quoted on them”-Birgeneau

8:35 p.m. “In a place like Berkeley, there’s a tendency to demonize the Republicans, and maybe it’s justified. Don’t quote me on that”-Birgeneau. Whatcha gonna do about it Birgeneau?

8:40 p.m. The Q&A portion started about 15 minutes ago, in case I forgot to mention that.

8:45 p.m. Bearcardo strikes again.

8:54 p.m. “With public funding disappearing at an alarming rate, we appealed to our alumni and our friends … once these funds come to us they in effect become public funding”-Birgeneau

8:56 p.m. “It’s very rare for an individual to come to you and say, ‘here’s a million dollars, what do you want to do with it?’” -Breslauer

8:57 p.m Will Smelko hasn’t said hi to me. Maybe he doesn’t remember me from my ASUC reporting days.

9:00 p.m. One student’s question: “Why does our football coach earn more than any other public employee?”

9:10 p.m. “There’s a certain amount of cynicism that goes along with this event … I ask for grace and patience as I hear things, and I will extend grace and patience back to you” – Poullard. People are getting a bit riled up.

9:15 p.m UC Berkeley’s budget will be going online before the end of the month, so you can play chancellor and try to balance it yourself. Fire up your Excel spreadsheets.

9:30 p.m. “One of my unhappinesses with the Regents is that there is not a single academic … I’ve nominated several people myself … but I have not been successful”-Birgeneau

9:33 p.m. Breslauer used the word “exigency.” Fancy.

9:36 p.m. “My own view is that fees should not get any higher”-Birgeneau. Again, shocking.

9:42 p.m. One student: “I don’t know how big the strike in November is going to be, but the one in March is going to be hella big. Be ready to be with us in the picket lines, to tell the Regents and to tell the president that we are not going to take it.”

9:45 p.m. Birgeneau does not plan to obtain emergency powers à la Yudof to try to redistribute the budget.

9:47 p.m. According to Birgeneau, there has not been a single executive pay raise on UC Berkeley campus.

9:48 p.m. Sounds like we’re wrapping up. Bye folks!

Image Source: ahisgett under Creative Commons

However, it appears that is not the case, at least not for the time being. The store has purchased a new location on San Pablo, it seems, and hopes to reopen by next month.

The new location is apparently even larger than the last, although not nearly as accessible after a stop at Cheeseboard. However, the new location might have an additional draw of incorporating a café and/or music venue into the store.

There will also be fewer new books, but the draw of the place was really the labyrinthine shelves of used books, so we’re not too worried.

Image Source: 0olong under Creative Commons
Black Oak Books Buys West Berkeley Home [Berkeley Daily Planet]

Feel like you need to weigh in on the ongoing “whose university” debate? Prepare for that itch to be scratched. An annual scholarship has come to the Clog’s attention: the Lili Fabilli and Eric Hoffer Essay Prize. Think about it: you could win up to $3000 for answering “our university.”

The contest is simple: write 500 words or less on the topic “whose university.” No joke, that is the entire topic. So get your world-weary genius attitude working for you (a melancholic sigh here, an essay about American apathy there).

Why 500 words? According to Hoffer, “…wordiness is a sickness of American writing. Too many words dilute and blur ideas.”

In solidarity, then, we’ll end here. Submissions are due Monday, Dec. 1 to 229 Sproul Hall. More rules for the contest are available here.

Lili Fabilli and Eric Hoffer Essay Prize [UC Berkeley Financial Aid Office]
Image source: Martin Kingsley under Creative Commons

Our favorite colorful campus character has to be “Bible Man” (we just made that up), found near the steps of Sproul reading Bible passages in a soothing monotone. We like him because his tranquil voice makes him easy to tune out, unlike the confrontational tirades of Yoshua or the “F*ck You Technology” dude.

We always figured he was reading passages out of Deuteronomy or Genesis, but we’d never actually stopped to listen to him. Turns out the open Bible’s just for looks. He’s talking about religion, kinda, but mostly he’s just talking. Here’re some excerpts:

• “There’s an obsession in America with sex, chocolate, Big Macs, big bucks, rock and roll … let the good times roll.”
• “Michael Jackson will rise again!”
• “Girls, when a guy tells you he loves you and he doesn’t care about sex, he’s probably a sex addict.”
• “Jesus never once made a mistake. Never.”
• “SATAN WAS THE FIRST CHILD MOLESTER!”
• “There’s only two nations today: the nation of saved and not.”
• “God is a good God. He gave us potatoes and he gave us grease to make french fries.”
• “Are you having a good sex life? Well God created sex and he created you. Sex is good.”
• “Only God can make a banana.”

Intrigued, we asked him a few questions about himself:

• His real name is Edmond Richards, as we found out from his official-looking bus pass laminated and hanging around his neck.
• He was sent to Berkeley by God to save students. He was sent to other campuses as well, including USC.
• He talks to God a lot … while walking down the street, while brushing his teeth and in his dreams.
• He speaks some Mandarin.
• He was born in Cuba.
• He was saved by a campus speaker like him back in the ’70s.

So next time you see him, we suggest you tune in for a bit. The guy’s full of epic quotes.

Image Source: Ruby Lee
Earlier: Instructor Edition