The Clog has just gotten wind of an event perfect for anyone still bitter about Hillary’s performance in the primaries. Tonight, March 11, at 7 p.m. in 234 Dwinelle there will be a talk held entitled “Why America Hasn’t Elected a Woman President.” (Our guess: because women only got the vote ninety years ago, and no one wants to rush things?)

Ruth Rosen, a professor emerita from UC Davis and visiting Berkeley history professor, will be speaking. The event is being sponsored by Cal Dems in honor of Women’s History and Empowerment Month (which is this month! who knew?).

Here’s hoping someone at this talks blasts Rush Limbaugh and his ilk for statements like “feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” Come on, people, that right there could set the female president goal back at least a year.

So how ’bout it, ladies? Are you going? ‘Cause we always need people to run this country, and having some XX chromosomes in charge of the White House definitely wouldn’t hurt.

Image source: Tony the Misfit under Creative Commons
Why America Hasn’t Elected a Woman President [UC Berkeley Events Calendar]

 This Sunday, March 14, at 2 a.m. you switch your clock forward to 3 a.m., meaning that you lose an hour. You can blame George Vernon Hudson, an entomologist (insect scientist) from New Zealand, who first proposed the holiday in 1895. But for some reason, DST is not observed in Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands.

 According to Wikipedia, “springing forward” was originally introduced to reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting but the extra sunlight has also helped reduce traffic fatalities and crime. Don’t worry, you’ll get that hour back in November.

Image Source: dunechaser under Creative Commons
Daylight Savings Time 2010 and Time Change [associated content]

When you go to Google Maps, select your starting and ending location and choose “bicycling” from the drop-down menu of transportation methods. They already have data on bike lanes, recommended streets and trails for 150 cities nationwide. With all the one-way streets and hills in this town, we admit biking can be a little tricky. Personally, we gave it up once we realized biking up a hill was more work than it was worth (especially when you live 3 blocks from campus).

On their official blog, Google describes the goal as such:

we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes.

Hopefully the new Google Bikes will give cyclists some tips on how to bike a little safer. The Office of Traffic Safety recently named Berkeley one of the most dangerous cities for bikers and pedestrians with a total of 634 collision-related deaths and injuries last year. We suggest you invest in a helmet.

Image Source: Official Google Blog
Biking directions added to Google Maps [Official Google Blog]

We’re hoping there’s some overlap here between the aforementioned groups and “People Who Don’t Actually Open CalMail.” True? Great. Because we’ve got some boring news you should probably hear about:

If you haven’t gotten your Reading and Composition requirement knocked out yet, you should start thinking about it now, because in 2012 colleges will begin enforcing a rule that says students have to fulfill the requirement before the second semester of their sophomore year. According to Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer, starting next year, they’ll be allocating more funds for R and C courses, which means if you need to take one, there should be space for you.

And now back to your scheduled, hopefully more exciting Clog programming …

Image Source: Hey Christine under Creative Commons
New Changes to the Reading & Composition (R&C) Requirement [CalMail]

“Concerning Strange Devices from the West,” just a couple weeks into its world premiere, is apparently all kinds of sexy … which we initially found kind of weird, considering it’s a play about cameras. Kind of. Naomi Iizuka’s script traverses a chronological spectrum from 1800s Japan to contemporary Tokyo, examining just how the introduction of photography affected Japanese culture throughout the last couple centuries.

There’s obviously a lot more going on (we’ve pieced together a mental montage that includes beautiful women undressing, hot tattoos and flashes of seizure-inducing, strobe-esque light), meaning if you want a more coherent idea of the real force behind “Strange Devices” you’ll have to hit the Berkeley Rep! Show runs till April 11, most days of the week at a range of times and for a range of prices we’re too overwhelmed to attempt to convey.

Image Source: kelvin255 under Creative Commons
On Location: ‘Strange Devices’ Berkeley Rep [StarkSilverCreek]
Strange Devices [Berkeley Rep Theatre]

AC Transit, you know, that trusty bus system you ride for “free” all around town (ahem there’s no such thing as a free lunch, are we right?), has released a detailed list of the service changes we alluded to back in December.

So, if you regularly depend on lines 9, 15, 19, 51, 52L or 79, hate to be the ones to break it to you but they’ve been axed. The 7 and the 88  routes have been severely altered, and the coveted transbay F line will be making 2 less trips a day.

If you’re like us, we’re mostly hot and bothered by the 51 being split in half, with the new “51A” running from Rockridge to Fruitvale BART via College Avenue, and the new “51B” running from Berkeley Amtrak to Rockridge BART via University.

At the end of the day, we recession babies will inevitably find a way to cope. (With megaphones and irrelevant, bratty signage? We certainly hope not.)

Image Source: allaboutgeorge under Creative Commons
Service Changes Set for March 28 [AC Transit]

Founded on principles combining “the technical precision and strength of climbing with expressive movement and music,” the Project will be at the Ashby Stage this weekend performing “Beyond Gravity” as part of its first Berkeley season. The company’s been around since 2006, getting down on vertical stages with choreographed climbing that’s as artsy as it is physically badass.

Or so we’re assuming. You’ll have to check it out and let us know—we might be too busy feeling weighed down by the burden of natural physics.

Tickets are $20 for students: March 12 and 13 at 8 p.m., March 14 at 3 p.m., 1901 Ashby Avenue. Be there or be static.

Image Source: TiAmoComeSei under Creative Commons
AscenDance Project [site]
This WeekendL ‘Beyond Gravity,’ Others [SFGate]
Earlier: Get Framed by Your Family of Cold-Blooded Criminals

In times of ruthless course cut-backs, the Department of Letters and Science has managed to open up a new alternative for people who take interest in questions of human rights but do not wish to subject themselves to the Peace and Conflict Studies department.

The minor consists of only five courses: an introductory course—L&S 140D—three elective courses and a writing course. Students will be able to graduate with a Human Rights minor as early as Spring 2011. The University of Chicago, University of Connecticut and Duke University have already implemented similar programs.

Image Source: US Mission Geneva under Creative Commons
UC Berkeley to Offer Minor in Human Rights [Daily Cal]

Remember those two fun guys who made a business out of used coffee ground-grown fungi last year? Well, according to former Daily Cal reporter and editor (Holla!) Rachel Gross over at the Bay Area blog, BTTR Ventures recently introduced a new product to their line, which, so far, includes mushrooms and, uh, mushrooms: DIY mushroom growing kits! Just what we’ve always wanted!

Because if there’s one thing East Bay folk love more than sustainable local agriculture, caffeine and compost, it’s homemade stuff. Right now, the kits are available at select Whole Foods stores, but starting on Earth Day (April 22) they’ll be available at  Peet’s Coffee and Tea. How apropos.

Badgers (Badger, badger, badger, badger. Mushroom mushroom [YouTube]
Coffee Grounds + Spores = a New East Bay Business [Bay Area]
Earlier: Two Fun Guys Go Green With Fungi

We know, we sound a little blasé, but really, we’re quite happy about it. The Turing Award of technology, worth $250,000, was just given out to Charles Thacker, a Bay Area boy who helped make what is now thought of as “the world’s first modern personal computer.” He also co-invented Ethernet technology. (In other words, he is, and will remain, a PC).

Well bully for him, but what about the money? Thacker, a Berkeley alum, told reporters that “he would probably donate the money to his alma mater.”

Congratulations, Thacker, but don’t expect a parade in Berkeley until you pony up the dough. “Probably” don’t pay the bills.

Image source: Pacdog under Creative Commons
‘Nobel of Computing’ Goes to Early PC Designer [AP] via New York Times