Apparently this went through someone’s mind, because such a Website exists to service all of your DC paraphernalia demands. You can’t get an “I (heart) DC” shirt, but you can get an “i campaknow everything because of the Daily Cal” shirt, a $17 coffee cup or a classy DC-branded trucker hat.

You know what this means? You can do your Daily Cal sudoku (crossword if you’re lame) while simultaneously sipping from your Daily Cal mug and reading dailycal.org during that 9 a.m. class. You can even have your order delivered to the Daily Cal … and wear it there while you blog about it … not that we did.

Image Source: jcdoll under Creative Commons
The Daily Cal Merchandise Gallery [Zazzle.com]

So basically that ubiquitous “Journalism is a failing industry” line that we’ve been hearing around kind of concerns us. Not enough to actually stop us from making fun of the industry or those who suffer because of it, of course, but hey, showing a gesture of concern is about as best as you’re going to get from us here at the Clog. And it seems that every publication has been affected, including our less attractive counterpart, the Berkeley Daily Planet.

In a recent editorial, the Planet broke down for us all of its financial funding issues and all but got down on its hands and knees begging us to become contributors to its “Fund for Local Reporting,” a personal contribution system a la NPR, where sponsors are listed and recognized for their generosity. They also suggested a form of “Community Supported Journalism,” along the lines of “Community Supported Agriculture.” Say what?

The article also defines bottom feeders like us as “aggregators,” the kind of snarky sites that gather up news reported elsewhere and repackage it that many are finding preferable to other news sites. But if  news sources are on the decline, where will aggregators like us turn for material?

Image Source: two stout monks under Creative Commons
Community-Supported Journalism: Is It Sustainable? [Berkeley Daily Planet]

As usual, the Clog was, like, totally ahead of the curve and started our Twitter feed a while ago, but since it’s a new year, we’ve decided there’s no time like the present to start actually, uh, well–how do we put this delicately?–using it. Regularly. So subscribe now and get all the awesome, snarky updates that you could ever want from us. Seriously, we’re all over it.

Oh, and P.S. If you think you can do what Cloggers do better than/as well as we do, you should definitely come to the Daily Cal recruitment meeting at 4 p.m. today, at 600 Eshleman Hall. Uncle Clog wants YOU!

Image Source: Southernpixel under Creative Commons

* First there was the successful petition to initiate a recall election for ASUC Senator John Moghtader, and now there’s a $50,000 bill waiting to happen. ASUC: PWNED. [Daily Cal]

* Berkeley blogger Jane Stillwater: “Hey, U.S. Department of Defense, I want my 15 mocha lattes back!” [Daily Cal]

* Reason No. 4568 why we’re glad we’re getting the heck outta Dodge: oh, just 11,000 over-enrolled UC students. [Daily Cal]

* One of someone’s favorite student newspaper blogs worldwide? Us? Blush. [College Media Matters]

Image Source: K@ja under Creative Commons
Earlier: This Is Bear Territory

Since newspapers around the country ran out of their Election Day issue (and California papers are no exception) the Daily Cal will be selling copies of yesterday’s issue (the first Wednesday publication in many weeks) tomorrow.

The price hasn’t been determined yet, but if the Clog finds out, we’ll be sure to update this post. Locations include Upper Sproul Plaza, near the giant Daily Cal rack (quiet your filthy minds), the west side of Wheeler Hall, North Gate (at the gate), and Kroeber Fountain near the … fountain.

UPDATE: The papers will be sold for $2 per, and include some sort of super-special anti-oxidant, water-resistant time-telling megapaper. Well, maybe not quite that much, but they won’t yellow as quickly as normal newspapers.

Image Source: dklimke under Creative Commons
Newspapers sell out early, restart presses [Chron]

One article, in particular, included a handful of student quotes pertaining to our state propositions. Had the article included tangible manifestations of student reactions, instead of printed words, your papers would have glittered with bloodstains, confetti, tears and few smiley faces.

The only landslide was the movement to protect our chickens (before cutting them up for consumption, that is). Both propositions for “alternative energy” failed rather miserably.

As for the rest, the votes came in so close that whichever way the scale finally tipped, we are going to be seeing a lot of happy campers with almost as many unhappy campers. See here for details. What’s a divided California to do?

Image Source: doviende under Creative Commons
State Propositions [Daily Cal]

For the sake of what we like to call “nagging repetitiveness,” we’d like to remind you that in a couple of weeks you will (hopefully) make some of the more important decisions you, as a citizen can make, when you vote. Now, we understand that by this point your ears might spontaneously start bleeding at the very sound of the “v” word, but fortunately for you, the Clog is mostly text-based. So read on, faithful reader, and do your civic duty.

What we’re trying to say (in an act of admittedly shameless self-promotion) is that you should totally take a gander at the Daily Cal’s elections site. It’s got all the elections news that fits, and considering that it’s on the internet, that’s a shit-ton of news. But don’t be intimidated! In fact, be the opposite of intimidated. The site is pretty and patriotic and nice, not to mention user-friendly, as most Daily Cal-affiliated websites tend to be.  And for those less inclined towards, you know, reading there are a bunch of videos, podcasts, photos, and nifty graphics. Including an Election Day countdown. (Um, yay?!)

Basically, it’s an orgy of political awesomeness, and you should make it your one-stop resource for local and national elections coverage. Because, honestly, would you really want to do all that research yourself? We thought not.

Elections ‘08- The Daily Californian [dailycal.org/elections]

Earlier this semester, the Daily Cal announced that it would cut back production due to budget restraints and, you know, the whole print-media-is-dying thing. This week, Syracuse University’s Daily Orange follows suit.

The Daily Orange is eliminating its print edition on its weakest day, Friday, and publishing content online instead, much like the Daily Cal’s Wednesday plan. The Syracuse paper, also independent of its university since 1971, has lost money because of legal trouble and not enough advertising revenue.

We hope the other daily can regroup, and we wish them the best of luck. It’s a hard-knock life out there–we should know.

Image Source: juicyrai under Creative Commons
Daily Orange ceases Friday print edition, moves to Web [Daily Orange]
via Paper Trail
Daily Cal Budget Woes Force Production Cuts [Daily Cal]

Recruitment meetings are scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 29 at 4 p.m. and Monday, Sept. 1 at 3 p.m. Meet in 600 Eshleman Hall (a.k.a. the Daily Cal’s world headquarters) where the various section editors will be on hand, and you can extract from them whatever tasty morsels of Daily Cal info you require to take the plunge and apply. (OK, within reason. Obviously.) Godspeed, young reader, and hope to see you there!

Image Source: Jim judges under wikimedia commons
Apply to the Daily Cal [Daily Cal]

Last Thursday marked the last day the Daily Cal published on its summer schedule. You can expect a whole new slew of news pieces, columns, movie reviews and sudoku (because seriously, who does the crossword?) starting a week from Monday.

But that doesn’t mean we’ll be gone! The Clog will still be around this week to keep you up to date with all the (ir)relevant tree-people news, facebook updates and other nonhappenings of a Berkeley summer (that is, while it lasts).

And for the summer students—good luck on finals!

Image Source: cwirtanen under Creative Commons