Berkeleyside » Beyond categorization

The Berkeley NIMBY robot

Lance Knobel — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:28:00 +0000

Berkeleysider Josh Abrams sent us the above video without comment. I don’t think it’s a robot that will be developed in UC Berkeley’s robotics lab any time soon.

By lance. | Permalink | 10 comments |
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What is this?

Lance Knobel — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:04:24 +0000

Berkeleysider Eric Van Dusen sent us the photo to the left today. He had a slightly enigmatic challenge for our readers:

See how many Berkeleyside readers know where it is, its importance…

So have at it readers. Any suggestions?

By lance. | Permalink | 11 comments |
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8 down, eight letters

Lance Knobel — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:25:20 +0000

As much as Berkeleyside tries to get away on vacation, sometimes there’s no escaping.

I sat down this morning to do the crossword in The Guardian during our stay in London. I struggled for a while with 8 down: Wally meets sweetheart beside a line in California (8). I had the first and third letter, but I couldn’t figure out what it could be. When insight came, I felt abashed that it had taken so long. If Berkeleyside readers want to know the answer, I’ve put it below the fold.(...)

Read the rest of 8 down, eight letters (49 words)

By lance. | Permalink | 2 comments |
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In praise of fog

Guest contributor — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:51:13 +0000

Berkeleysider Alan Tobey thinks those who grumble about summer fog are misguided.

Our friends and relatives may think we “suffer in the cold fog” all summer, but we know better. Here are just some of the reasons we cherish our misty meteorological friend:

The money we save on sunscreen subsidizes our hot coffee requirement.
It’s never too warm to drink red wine.
While most of the country is paying up for air conditioning, cool Berkeleyans with solar panels are selling their peak power to PG&E at top rates.
It’s hard to get sweaty biking to work.
We can be precise about when real summer weather temporarily brings us over-90 temperatures. This year summer was on a Saturday.
On socked-in mornings the neighborhood roosters sleep late.
Any Berkeley restaurant with a wood-fired oven can succeed in July and August.
We can count on daily fun-filled breezes for kite flying, sailboarding and more-challenging bicycle workouts.
There’s no excuse for drinking light beer, which we don’t make here anyway.
Sweatshirt sales to freezing visitors reliably boost the city’s sales tax revenues.
Ice cream cones melt outside at a leisurely rate, prolonging the pleasure.
Outdoor barbecue parties are unpopular, so Berkeley men have to learn to cook more interesting food than just burgers.

What else makes fog season especially enjoyable in Berkeley?

Photo “Attack of the killer fog” by Keoki Seu/Flickr

By guest. | Permalink | 15 comments |
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Where’s the road rage in Berkeley?

Lance Knobel — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:27:38 +0000

According to research cited by Rob Walker in his Consumed column in The New York Times Magazine, “drivers who put bumper stickers and other decorations on their vehicles are 16 percent more likely to engage in road rage” (the peer-reviewed research is behind a paywall here).

If there’s anything that characterizes cars in Berkeley, it’s a higher than usual quotient of bumper stickers.

So where’s the road rage? Or is Berkeley an outlier in this, as in so many other things?

By lance. | Permalink | 5 comments |
Post tags: bumper stickers

Berkeleyite or Berkeleyan?

Lance Knobel — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:40:36 +0000

Here’s a problem that Berkeleyside wrestles with frequently. Should we refer to residents of Berkeley as Berkeleyites or Berkeleyans?

To my ear, Berkeleyites sounds better. It gets 25,000 results on Google. Someone has entered it into the City Dictionary. Berkeleyan, on the other hand, gets 110,000 Google hits. Looks like a done deal, doesn’t it? But hang on. A lot of those Berkeleyan hits are because it’s the accepted adjective for things relating to Bishop Berkeley (photo left) or his system of philosophical idealism.

Tell us readers. What do you think? Of course, we could cut the Gordian knot and just agree to call everyone Berkeleysiders.

Photo by Harry Harris from Flickr

By lance. | Permalink | 27 comments |
Post tags: George Berkeley

Spring road trip, when car springs really mattered

Frances Dinkelspiel — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:49:12 +0000

One of my favorite daily treats is the Bancroft Library’s Digital Object of the Day, which can be found on their Facebook page or by following them on Twitter at @bancroftlibrary.

In honor of spring, which arrives Sunday, the Bancroft has sent out a photo of an early version of a spring road trip. This photo was taken in in Calico, a silver mining town on King Mountain not too far from Barstow. Today it is a ghost town and tourist attraction. Imagine the bounce in those cars as they traveled over those dirt roads.

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Bancroft Library

Guy Noir stalks Berkeley

Lance Knobel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:22:01 +0000

If you were listening to Prairie Home Companion (or attending the live performance at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco) this weekend, you heard Berkeley figure prominently in the show.

Guy Noir, host Garrison Keillor’s literate detective, crossed the Bay to investigate the establishment of a private zoo in Berkeley. You can listen to the segment here (about 10 minutes in) or read the script and provide your own voices and sound effects. Here’s my favorite passage, which, like much of the segment, enjoyed playing with Berkeley’s initial letter (I won’t bother with the set up — the “plot” was typically silly and thin):

GK: Miss Bixby owned the Bangkok Bakery, which was next-door to the Berkeley Botanical Blanket shop.

SS: Hi. Becky biked to Bakersfield on her motorbike so I’m running the bakery. You care for a blackened broccoli bisque baked on bricks?

GK: Becky Bixby doesn’t sound like anyone from Bangkok.

SS: Brooklyn. She’s Bert Bacharach’s bookkeeper. Buxom gal, sort of a Sandra Bullock look-alike but with buck-teeth and a beautymark on her beak.

GK: I thought Brooke Backstrom was Bert Bacharach’s bookkeeper.

SS: I’m Brooke Backstrom.

GK: You’re a Berkeley grad?

SS: Wrote a book on Bix Beiderbeck’s effect on Samuel Beckett and Bertolt Brecht. How about breakfast? Buckwheat bean-curd pancakes with bok choi biscuits? Buckwheat kills bacteria better than broccoli. You know that?

By the way, I know as many people detest Prairie Home Companion as love it. In my household, my listening is barely tolerated.

By lance. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home Companion

I for one welcome our new robot overlords!

Lance Knobel — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:20:12 +0000

The writer of What Did You Do to My Shoes clearly had too much time on his hands. The robot is made out of 12 buildings on the UC Berkeley campus. See if you can figure it out before you look at the key.

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Your Mom is So Berkeley

Lance Knobel — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:22:14 +0000

Why on earth did it take us so long to come across this Berkeley Facebook group? (Hat tip: Cory Fisher.)

By lance. | Permalink | 4 comments |
Post tags: Facebook