Daily Archives: October 4, 2011
The Berkeley Wire: 10.04.11
Occupy Wall Street protestors plan demo in Berkeley [Daily Cal]
Inside Erica Tanov’s studio [Refinery 29]
Berkeley City Club: The house that Julia built [Suite 101]
Berkeley High football moves up national rankings [Maxpreps]
Fighting hunger: Empty Bowls initiative comes to Cal [Empty Bowls]
Autopsy to record at Berkeley’s Fantasy Studios [Gun Shy Assassin]
Town & Gown conference in Berkeley a sell-out [T&G]
Photo: Spotted Monday on Dwight, a very Berkeley image, by Robert Shepherd.
Shop Talk: The ins and outs of Berkeley businesses
NUTTY BUT NICE Genuto, the brainchild of vegan chef Barry Schenker and his physician wife, Diana Rebman, is a Berkeley-based start-up that makes nut-based probiotic vegan gelato. A world first, says Schenker, who scooped more than 300 servings at the recent Berkeley Coffee & Tea Festival.
“We developed Genuto to meet the needs of the approximately 25% of the American public who are to some degree, lactose intolerant,” Schenker says. “This number is probably higher in the Bay Area, since we have a larger number of Asian, African and Hispanic Americans living here.” The couple developed Genuto while hosting the popular Market Place dinners at the Hillside Club. There are six initial six flavors, which should be available at Whole Foods Markets soon. Berkeley Bowl next? Find information on the Genuto website.
ART FOR ALL It didn’t take long for someone to snap up the lease at 2950 College Avenue in the Elmwood, which saw the closure last week of Lola’s home design store. The Collector promises to offer affordable art for all tastes and budgets.
LADY LINGERIE Tease Me Boutique (right) opened up at 1701 University Avenue in late September — and its blend of fun, frivolous undergarments and minimalist décor are certainly eye-catching.
ARRIVEDERCI ITALIA The Milanese Caffé, at 2502 Telegraph Avenue, is under new management. Out goes the Italian menu and in comes “Continental California cuisine”, including traditional American breakfasts. The café also serves lunch and dinner. … Continue reading »
Nobel winner gets real prize: A special parking permit
When Berkeleyside spoke to newly anointed Nobel Prize winner Saul Perlmutter earlier today, he joked that the “only reason to win a Nobel Prize” was to receive the famous Nobel laureate (NL) parking permit, reserved for laureates on the Berkeley campus.
Today he was presented with the coveted permit which is a free lifetime pass to park in designated spaces near the central UC Berkeley campus. … Continue reading »
Berkeley food programs short on funds as demand rises
At a time when an increasing number of families need help putting a meal on the table, the Berkeley Food Pantry has a severe financial shortfall that threatens to jeopardize its emergency aid program.
If a promised check from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program, doesn’t show up within days, the pantry may not be able to help hungry Berkeley and Albany residents who line up for two bags of groceries later this week.
The 42-year-old program, which operates three afternoons a week out of the Berkeley Friends Church on Sacramento Street, has just $190 in its account, said director Bill Shive. In less dire times pantry expenses amounted to $3,000 a month, though it has spent as much as $5,000 a month on both perishables and pantry items to provide sustenance to people in need, said Shive.
Last year, the pantry received federal funding totaling $24,000, in two payments. This year their funds, like other aid groups, have been cut 40%. But the pantry has yet to receive any money from FEMA in 2011, though a check for half the program’s funding ($8,400) is said to be on its way.
And even if the money does come, the organization is so seriously strapped for cash — it has borrowed $6,000 from the Alameda County Community Food Bank this year to cover costs, said Shive — that it’s likely to be an extremely lean time leading into the holiday season. “What this means is that we’ll have less food, less variety, and we’ll be able to help fewer people,” he said. … Continue reading »
Murder victim family visits Berkeley looking for answers
On a rainy Monday evening the family of Adolfo Ignacio Celedón Bravo, who was brutally gunned down just over a year ago on September 12, 2010, gathered to plant flowering vines and lavender in his memory in a commemorative garden created by his fiancée near the spot where he fell on Adeline Street.
The murder of Fito, as he was known to his friends, has not been solved, and his family is hoping their presence here and the many meetings they have held with officials and the media will prompt someone in the community to come forward with information leading to the arrest of his killers.
The 35-year-old Fito and his fiancée Amber Nelson were walking home from a party in the early hours of the morning when they were ambushed and robbed by two assailants near Ashby BART. Fito was shot while trying to protect Nelson. The randomness of the killing shocked the Berkeley community.
Nelson said the hope was that somebody with information would show compassion and help track down the murderers. … Continue reading »
Berkeley’s Saul Perlmutter wins Nobel Prize in Physics
Update 7:30 a.m. “It’s the only reason to win a Nobel Prize,” replied Saul Perlmutter to Berkeleyside during a teleconference early this morning. The new Nobel laureate was replying to our question about when he would receive the prized NL parking permit, reserved for laureates on the Berkeley campus. He expects to pick it up today, he said.
Perlmutter said he first heard about the prize when his phone rang at 2:45 a.m. this morning. A Swedish reporter asked him, “How do you feel?” “How do I feel about what?” Perlmutter replied. Perlmutter’s wife hurried to check the web to see if the call was a hoax. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences reached Perlmutter at about 3:15 a.m. with the official call.
Perlmutter said the academy had called the wrong cellphone number earlier, because one of his colleagues, a Swedish physicist, still had an old number in his contact list.
The discovery that led to the prize was described by Perlmutter as “the slowest aha moment you’ve ever heard”. He explained how he and his team spent four months sifting data from their observations of type 1a supernovae, expecting that further calibration would allow the data to plot “where we expected it to”. Instead, the data were absolutely in contradiction to “the elements of physics that we knew about”.
“This was a big shock,” Perlmutter said. … Continue reading »
