Well, I don't know about all you readers out there, but I can say that ever since my arrival here at UC Berkeley, I've spent more time playing super smash brothers than I have in the rest of my life combined. If you play smash, you might understand these next few paragraphs, but if you don't then you probably wont get a lot of the terminology I'm going to throw at you. Anyway, here's my take on the subject:
It started out last September, when my RA invited me and a few floormates over to his room for a good ol' game of classic smash on his old-school n64. I used to play every once in a while back home, so I figured "oh hey, this sounds like fun. I can try to play Kirby again!" So i grabbed a controller, sat myself down on his couch with a few friends, and played my first collegiate game of smash. Little did I know that within only a few weeks, the game would take over an unprecedented amount of time in my waking hours.
After that first game of smash, I began to play whenever I was bored in the dorms. I was terrible at first, but as I kept playing, I kept improving, and as I improved, I became determined to play more.
Before I knew it, i was playing smash three times a day; it even took priority over my schoolwork at times! And to make matters worse, my roommate decided to bring over her gamecube, and with a game counsel in our hands, all our studious endeavors were lost.

Continue reading "super smash brothers!" »

Posted by Angela Hsu at 10:51 PM | Permalink

Here's my experience with doing research at Cal as a transfer student. I applied to SPUR to find a faculty project. I got the position but I definitely felt at a disadvantage while being interviewed. The first question: What research projects have you worked on at Cal? I'm thinking, well I've only been here for 4 months and they expect me to have a vast list of skills? Yes they do, fortunate for me I had experience doing a research class at DVC (the jc I went to). The next question: Could we get an email address to ask for a letter of recommendation? I'm thinking, in four months I'm expected to be buddy buddy enough with a professor to be asking him/her to take out of their busy schedule to write me a letter or rec? Yes they do. Fortunately for me again, I spent a lot of time in one of my professor’s office hours. The bottom line: If you're going to do research when you get to Berkeley you better spend that first semester doing all you can to boost your resume. Some things you can do: volunteer in a professor’s research and get to know at least one of your professors so you can ask them for a letter of recommendation.

Continue reading "Being a Transfer Student and Research" »

Posted by Marissa Ponder at 11:16 AM | Permalink

So today was the ESPM Ice Cream Social. I was planning on making an announcement here sooner, but I totally blanked on it yesterday. Sorry about that. For today, the ESPM department was giving away free cones of Ben & Jerry's ice cream to anyone who stopped by outside of Mulford. Some of the professors were scooping cones for people; it was pretty cool get a cone from Keith Gilless, acting dean of CNR. I wasn't able to stay for too long (I had to go to class), but just getting the chance to enjoy the beautiful weather and talk with some friends was great. The Strawberry Kiwi sorbet was pretty good, too. This event reminds me of why the ESPM department is pretty cool (and CNR as a whole).

Yeah, CNR is a pretty chill place to be.

Posted by Joel Kim at 3:02 PM | Permalink

To every hard-working college student shaking their head in the wee hours of the night, rock on. Rock on :)

To every college college student procrastinating while shaking their head in the wee hours of the night, get busy :)

I everyone who slept tonight: I envy you.

www.pandora.com -- Free internet radio from the Music Genome Project.

Posted by Tay Feder at 2:06 AM | Permalink

It's nearing the end of April, which means for me, it's almost time to sign up for classes via telebears -.- It's a pain in the butt for a lot of people, especially those who have no idea what to sign up for when that vital 24 hour period comes around- the one they call "phase 1." I remember people telling me "don't worry about what classes you take your first year. it doesn't really matter as long as you get your prerequisites them done eventually." And to those people, i say BOLOGNA!! Of course there's some breathe room to take some "just for fun" classes, but I recommend by all means to figure out some sort of plan to figure out when to take your prerequisites.
I'm an undeclared student, and for the last 2 telebears appointments I've had (fall 07 and spring 08), I've ripped out a lot of hair when the stressful time comes around to choose what classes to take. After a (almost) a full year here at berkeley, I highly recommend you to check out your college advising center.

Continue reading "some tips for incoming freshies :)" »

Posted by Angela Hsu at 6:39 PM | Permalink

You ever feel like there just isn't enough time to just sit down and relax, especially when finals are coming up so soon? On top of that, you are apartment hunting for next semester, which isn't easy, trying to still keep in contact with your friends, trying to go to lecture and STAY AWAKE when you've had 4 hours of sleep, and other random unneeded friend drama that always seems to pop up in the most untimely fashion? yes. Well, I figured out my way of de-stressing! obvious, one is writing in this blog, but other ways, little ways that help me, since I have 3 more years to go, are : chewing gum( to keep awake), go to the library( you can concentrate more), eating at least 2 meals a day( so you aren't' preoccupied with hunger when you are supposed to be studying), and dinner appointments with friends from time to time, study groups( help each other and maintain a balanced social life), walking around Berkeley at 7 am( quite peaceful), going to the Big C or botanical gardens. Other than that, i'm doing fine. Feel free to reply back or share your methods of de-stressing in Cal!

Posted by Casey Wang at 4:18 PM | Permalink

Can you believe that this will be the only break we have until the end of the semester!!?? It's ridiculous. Now, we have 5 more weeks until finals.... time sure does fly. Spring break was fun- I went to San Francisco and it was actually WARM! My friends and I went to City Light Bookstore and it was really cool because we got to read books written by the owner of the bookstore! I never knew I would love poetry so much until I went here. Then, I went to Pier 39 and walked around looking at all the shops there. Oh my gosh!!! There was this cute musical box store that had hand made italian made music boxes that were so lavish and intricate and beautiful!! but everything in it was like 800 to 1000 dollars!!!! It was mental anguish i tell you...:(

Continue reading "Spring Break" »

Posted by Casey Wang at 11:47 AM | Permalink

I went to talk to the MEB advisor this afternoon since I really need some advice on planning for my upper division curriculum. I guess some students would probably roll their eyes and like: “it is just continuing in a bunch of science classes as the introductory ones we have been taking.” But trust me, the upper division requirements are quite different! In lower division, you would take Chem 1A, Chem 3A/3AL and Chem 3B/3BL to fulfill the chemistry requirement. For the biology requirement, it is Bio 1A/1AL and Bio 1B. For the physics requirement, it is Physics 8A and Physics 8B… You know all those mandatory, huge and competitive courses…

However, you have a variety of courses to choose from for the upper division requirements. For example, I am majoring in Molecular Environmental Biology, and there is the Upper Division Biology Requirement where I am going to take a course from each of the seven categories. In addition, I would have to choose an area of concentration and take another 12 units from a list of approved course.

Continue reading "Schedule Planning" »

Posted by Yang Cao at 9:41 PM | Permalink

i know it's a day late, but i was reading online some april fools jokes that made me laugh. so, i decided to share them with you :). it's amazing how clever people can be, and wow you'd be surprised of how big-scale some of the pranks are...check out the website: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/
Here are a few of my favorites:
#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
spaghetti harvest In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."
#4: The Taco Liberty Bell
Taco Liberty BellIn 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.

Continue reading "april fools!" »

Posted by Angela Hsu at 10:12 AM | Permalink

So most college admission decisions are out already! Having problems deciding where to go for the next 4 years of your college life? or 5... or 6... but let's not hope for that :) . If you want to learn more of how I dealt with this same problem, the first part my story is found on my first blog "Introduction". Now I am going through some things you may want to consider before deciding for a school.

Continue reading "John's Guide to Choosing a College!" »

Posted by John Cortez at 12:06 AM | Permalink

When considering where I wanted to go one of the things people told me about Cal, was that professors rarely teach, most classes are taught by grad students. This in my experience is not true. I've had a GSI (grad student instructor), give a lecture once sometimes twice a semester but it usually was planned for a professors absence. I know many high school students are deciding about which college to go to. Don't let silly rumors about different colleges shape your decision, I'm glad I didn't. I highly recommend taking a tour of campus and asking the tour guides about them, they'll have a better idea of what classes are really like instead of your high school counselor. Here is the link for information on free tours of Berkeley so you can come check it out for yourself. http://www.berkeley.edu/visitors/free_tours.html

Posted by Marissa Ponder at 3:57 PM | Permalink

So this afternoon, I went to my first RPP appointment. For those of you who do not know this, RPP is the Research Participation Program that gives undergraduate students a chance to participate in some of the research being conducted by graduate students and faculty researchers in the Department of Psychology. Since I am taking Psychology 2 this semester, I am required to participate in research experiments for a total of 5 hours.

I didn’t want to sign up for those experiments that would require putting wires around my head to measure some kind of brain activity, because what can I do if something goes wrong?! So I was trying to find survey-based experiment from the list of available studies online. Finally I decided to give a try on Experiment 73.

The experiment was scheduled in Tolman, and it was specified that the experiment would start right at the hour, not 10 minutes after. Tolman is that strange building that you can never figure out where you are. As I wandered around on the fourth floor, I thought that it would be such a good idea to just let us search for a room that does not even exist and record how long it takes us to figure that out! Anyway, after spending five minutes wandering around on the fourth floor, and I finally found room 4105.

Continue reading "My First RPP Experience " »

Posted by Yang Cao at 7:42 PM | Permalink

If you're interested in making a difference you can see...

On March 29 at 8 p.m., switch off your lights for Earth Hour. Millions around the world will be doing the same in a global effort to demonstrate how a simple gesture can have far-reaching benefits for our environment. Join the Earth Hour movement and see the difference 60 minutes can make.

Earth Hour is a global event created to symbolize that each one of us, working together, can make a positive impact on climate change - no matter who we are or where we live. From Sydney to San Francisco, the World Wildlife Fund is spearheading this initiative in 25 cities across 6 continents.

Posted by Juan at 8:30 PM | Permalink

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! Wait....except I have a paper due on Monday and two presentations due on Tuesday. That basically sums up what I'll be spending this week on. Well that's not too bad because I've decided to go visit family in Palm Springs because I need a break. Even if I'm doing homework at least I'll be by the pool! This semester has kept me extra busy, I don't recommend 17.5 units and 15-20 hours of work. Yes it's possible to do it, but it's really not that much fun. On a side note...I got my first C+ on something in college. I'm really annoyed because 1/3 of the class got D's and they get to re-write their papers but I don't and my grade is close to being just as bad. I plan on spending every waking hour of break working on my second paper...okay so maybe I'll spend some time in the pool, but I am determined to get an A on my next paper now.

Posted by Marissa Ponder at 8:53 AM | Permalink

Isn't home the best? Even though some people tell me that I'm going to start loving Berkeley more than SoCal because I'm going to Cal, I find that highly unlikely. Right now, the sun's streaming in through the windows and it just makes you want to jump right out of bed at sunrise, or a bit after. Back in Berkeley, my alarm rings, and I hit the Snooze button...three times...it's just so grey outside that I want to stay under the covers for as long as possible.

Besides the weather, Socal is just home. I love being with my family and some of my friends from high school. Even though people at Berkeley are awesome,

Continue reading "Home Sweet Home" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 9:00 AM | Permalink

I don't mean that BBC News is rewriting history in a good way. As some may or may not know, Taiwan is holding their presidential elections tomorrow, March 22. This, along with the coming Beijing Olympics, has caused more news to be written about Taiwan than normal. Thus, the proliferation of incorrect and suggestive sentences, strongly biased towards the People's Republic of China, has increased.

Sentences and Formatting that Greatly Irritate Me:

(1) "China says that Taiwan is part of its territory, although the two have been separately governed since 1949."
Tibet focus for Taiwan election

(2) "Taiwan broke away from the mainland in 1949, when the Communists took over."
China trade links are key in Taiwan poll

(3) Interactive History BBC News Interactive History

Rebuttals:
(1) This sentence completely ignores the fact that beginning in 1895, Japan had formal control of Taiwan with the Treaty of Shimonoseki. And it was only in 1887 did the Manchu Empire (the Qing Dynasty who ruled China) declare Taiwan part of China. Actually, when the Taiwanese heard that they were to be part of Japan, they declared a Taiwan Republic. A couple days later, when Japan came in, the republic was taken over. Check out these maps:
Taiwan is not part of the map here in the Qing Dynasty, nor on this Ming Dynasty map (the dynasty right before Qing). Taking into consideration history, one must remember that possession is eleven points of the law. Immigration between the mainland and Taiwan was also quite fluid as they are located close to each other. (Currently the closest territory of Taiwan is less then a mile away from China, but the main island is at least 80 miles away.) Control of Taiwan varied throughout history with different empires ruling over portions of it at different times.

Continue reading "BBC News Rewriting History" »

Posted by K. Lee at 7:10 AM | Permalink

Fret fret freezing cold, fret fret freakout, fret fret fret fret.

Wake up late? Rush, run faster, catch a random bus, and make it to class earlier than you usually do.
Get an exam back? Hit the books again and maybe worry some more until you improve your grade, or, alternatively cheer!

Today was one of those fret fret freeze fret fret CHEER!!!! days, which makes it significantly better than average.

Posted by Christina at 2:48 PM | Permalink

Telebears Phase I begins in mid-April!!! The online schedule of classes for the fall semester is already up, so start planning your schedule! Remember, during Phase I, sign up for classes that fill up quickly, like organic chemistry and the other general science classes. The labs for these classes fill up really fast. You should schedule your other classes to fit around these lower division science requirements since their labs take up so much time.

I've already started planning my schedule and so far, I know I'm definitely going to Chemistry 3B/3BL (this is the second part of organic chemistry) and Biology 1B. Most students take Biology 1B before they take Biology 1A

Continue reading "Fall 08 Semester Planning!!!" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 1:44 PM | Permalink

So this semester, I've decided to get more involved on Cal campus and spend less time studying! It's been a great goal. What have I done differently? Well, I've been swimming at least 2 days a week now(yay me, even though it seems pathetic!), joining more clubs, and signed up for a DeCal. This one decal is amazing- Relay for Life Decal! In the two hours on thursdays that I spend time there, we get to listen to a different speaker each time speaking about cancer, typical job professions in the health field. Then, we split up into our committees and plan for the much anticipated upcoming event: Relay for Life. For those of you who don't know what relay for life is about- it's a 24 hour event held( for cal, behind the RSF on May 3rd) where participants, people, volunteers spend one day to fight back cancer- hosting games, teams( where we walk for 24 hours straight), entertainer- make aware of cancer. Not only have I learned much more about different types of cancer, I've taken an active role in preparing for this event and I know it's going to be lots of fun!!! So, all you reading this, come!!

So, after I joined this, I became involved in CAC(colleges against cancer) club and we've been doing many fund raising activities to bring awareness about various cancers and going to volunteer events. The other club I joined was PILLS- it's a club for interested pre-pharmacy students. It's a great club in that it advises you on the classes you should take to get into pre-pharm grad school, the various opportunities that you can get involved in right now that involve this field, and just networking with other like-minded people. I find that making the choice to get more involved has created a great balance so far- academically and socially. Anyway, my next goal is to find an apartment for next semester, although I'm quite reluctant to search for one since I've heard that it's quite difficult?

Posted by Casey Wang at 4:34 PM | Permalink

Have you ever heard of BERC? It stands for the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative, a 2-year old graduate student club that brings together people interested in energy, climate change, and sustainability. With over 400 graduate student members, the most active mailserv I've ever seen, and creator of the huge UC Energy Symposium that just went down on March 7th, I always thought it was a shame they didn't have a place for undergraduates. It's going to change this week:

**Cheese Board** Pizza, Ping Pong, and Air Hockey

Wednesday March 19th, 5pm-6:30 pm

Mulford, Room 260, CNR Student Resource Center

As a loyal reader of Fresh Faces, you're invited to the BERC Undergrad Kickoff Night! We want to have a fun, relaxing, time while introducing undergrads to the incredible opportunities and especially the community that is BERC. This event is for EVERYONE, grad students, undergrads, faculty and staff. There is no agenda, come eat, drink, be merry, and practice your leisure sports because the competition will be fierce.

The event will be organized by Harris Cohn (CRS) and I (EEP) who were appointed VPs of BERC Undergrad earlier this year. The title is still fuzzy, but our role isn't. Our plan is to first create a mentoring program where undergraduates interested in energy, climate change, and sustainability, can pair up with graduates students in business, law, engineering, public policy, and the many sciences: social, physical, biological, & environmental. Second, we're looking for sophomores or juniors who might be interested in taking over our role and developing something larger for future years -- like a BERC study abroad program, or renewable energy projects in developing countries.

Feel free to forward this announcement to your friends.

Drop us a line if you have any questions. We're looking forward to it, hope to see you there!
Harris Cohn (harriscohn@gmail.com) and Tay Feder (tfeder@gmail.com)

Continue reading "Pizza, Ping Pong, and Air Hockey" »

Posted by Tay Feder at 9:15 PM | Permalink

About five years ago, I thought to myself: why don't networks stream their shows online? Don't they want more viewers? It took them a while, but they're doing it now. Most stations, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, have started to offer their content online with ads. One site that has episodes and movies from multiple studios is Hulu.com, which just recently finished its beta testing and is open to the public. Netflix.com, also offers online viewing. If you or your parents use Netflix, you can log-on and watch some TV and movies online ad-free. Their content isn't as great as Hulu or content providers' sites, but the video quality is top-notch. In my mind there's no need to download illegal torrents / files from p2p apps and risk getting 'the letter' when there's a free and legal alternative...

--

Continue reading "TV, online & legal" »

Posted by Tay Feder at 8:23 PM | Permalink

So as some of you may know, I work as a Hydration Technician at the stadium. Basically, I give football players water, which also involves setting up the water coolers on the field before practice, then taking them out and cleaning them after practice.

This last Friday we had one of our 4 morning practices at 6:30 AM. I woke up at 4:45, washed up, and had some cereal before heading to the stadium. By the time I got there, it was already 5:45, and one of my coworkers was already setting things up. That morning, all 4 HydroTechs (myself included) showed up, as well as the 7 Sports Medicine Interns (SMIs).

Just as practice got underway, it started to drizzle. Pretty soon, it was pouring rain, just pouring! Standing around on the football field at 6:30 in the morning holding racks of water bottles in the pouring rain was not fun. I was lucky to have a waterproof jacket on, but everything still got soaked.

I was impressed by the football players, though. Despite the fact that they were out practicing in the early morning rain, they didn't complain or make a big fit. They just practiced through, and almost seemed to enjoy it. They had a very practical attitude about it; they had to practice, and so that's what they did, in spite of the rain.

After practice was over and everything cleaned up by 8:30, I went home, washed up, and got ready for the day.

Posted by Joel Kim at 3:12 PM | Permalink

I used to hate the thought of using the microwave, everything always turns out rubbery or just odd. But last night changed my mind...

I didn't want to wait to heat up the oven, but I really wanted sugar cookies. Found this recipe at www.cooks.com decided to try. It turned out delicious! Cakey, fluffy not-too-sugary cookies.

MICROWAVE SUGAR COOKIES

3/4 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 2/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Soften butter (15 seconds in microwave). Cream butter; gradually add sugar. Cream until fluffy; beat in eggs and vanilla. Toss flour, baking powder, and salt to mix; add to creamed mixture and combine well.
Chill dough 1 hour until firm. Roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut in shapes. Arrange 8 cookies in a ring on waxed paper. Cook 2 minutes on HIGH. Yield 3-4 dozen.

This experience has opened my mind to the fact that yes, sometimes microwaves can help you make things that taste good.

Posted by Christina at 9:51 AM | Permalink

HI EVERYONE!

So this is my first blog and before I can start providing advices I will introduce myself first. My name is John Cortez and I'm a freshie studying Environmental Economics and Policy (geez such a long name). I am also planning to double major in Political Science because I am mainly interested in policy making and solving public issues. Actually, I thought I was going to become an engineer, but...

Continue reading "Introduction" »

Posted by John Cortez at 6:46 PM | Permalink

For Berkeley students, Spring Break isn't much of a break. While the other UCs have their spring breaks right after 3rd quarter, Berkeley's spring break is smack in the middle of semester, right before round two of midterms. I can just imagine my spring break...studying for organic chemistry and toxicology. However, even with all the studying I have to do, I'm still going to spend some quality time at home in SoCal. Hopefully it's sunny there over spring break. By the way, it's going to start raining in Berkeley sometime soon and rain for the whole of next week. Just perfect. Berkeley has such odd weather.

Continue reading "Spring Break..." »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 5:12 PM | Permalink

Interested in all organic? Organic foods have limited amounts and types of pesticide residues. Although they're priced higher than non-organic foods, organic foods can be quite appealing to some people. Whole Foods Market sells mostly organic foods and it's only a short bus ride away. Simply take the 1R that goes along Telegraph and you'll go straight to Whole Foods Market. Another appealing aspect of Whole Foods Market is that they always have plenty of samples. They also have a large selection of granola, cheese, and breads. So, if you're interested in organic foods or if you're hungry, you should go visit Whole Foods sometime! :)

Posted by Victoria Eng at 5:01 PM | Permalink

Have you guys noticed that mini laptops are becoming quite popular? Just the other day, I saw this woman with this adorable white mini laptop and I really wanted to ask her for the model number, but she went inside the library and I didn't want to seem like a stalker. Later, I found out that the mini laptop was none other than the Asus Eee PC. Ranging from about $300-$500, the Asus Eee PCs weigh around 2 pounds with a 7" display screen. These mini laptops run on Linux operating systems but are Windows XP compatible. I read in some articles that they're used in some schools since the small keyboards are a perfect fit for little hands. To learn more about the Asus Eee PCs:

http://eeepc.asus.com/global/

Continue reading "Mini Laptops" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 4:42 PM | Permalink

I am extremely excited because I am going to be starting medical research at Kaiser Hospital! I will be assigned a few patients in a Crohn's Disease Study to which I have to perform various tasks including: calling patients during the study and making sure they are maintaining their medications and not taking new forms that may affect the study, sending their blood for lab work and then analyzing the data, preparing patients for surgery and observing the procedure, maintaining patient medical records and study questionnaire, working with the GI surgeon to investigate trends in the medications/study with the patients, and last but certainly not least writing a final report about the study for a possibility for publication to the study sponsor aka the pharmaceutical company. I am really thrilled about this position because this will be lab work in my area of interest instead of doing lab work in which I am preparing mice or running DNA strips. In addition, this research will help me determine whether I want to go into medical school to become a doctor or to become part of the growing medical research field. (And of course I am really excited because this is going to look fantastic on my resume!)

If you have any questions about the work I'll be doing (i have to read a ton of material about Crohn's Disease, study procedure, etc) feel free to ask!

Posted by Rola Abduljabar Rabah at 8:59 PM | Permalink

Daylight savings came up on me unexpected this year. Isn't it supposed to be the first weekend of April? Sunday morning, I looked at my watch, looked at the clock on my computer, and realized one of them was probably wrong.

Then I looked it up - starting March 2007, the United States changed Daylight Savings permanently, extending it one month.

What's the point? I mean, people tell you that it's saving money, and that it's worthwhile - but has anyone actually done studies to prove it? Today I found this article by National Geographic, addressing these questions. Figured you folks might enjoy it, too.

Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News

March 7, 2008
On Sunday people in the United States will roll their clocks forward an hour at 2 a.m. and begin the country's second consecutive year of extended daylight saving time.

The change, adopted into law last year, was touted as a way to save energy. But some studies suggest the move actually has consumers using more power—and paying bigger energy bills.

Hendrik Wolff, an environmental economist at the University of Washington in Seattle, is skeptical of the purported savings.

Wolff and colleague Ryan Kellogg studied Australian power-use data surrounding the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when parts of the country extended daylight saving time to accommodate the games.

The pair compared energy use in the state of Victoria, which adopted daylight saving time earlier than normal, to South Australia, which did not.

"Basically if people wake up early in the morning and go to bed earlier, they do save artificial illumination at night and reduce electricity consumption in the evening," Wolff said.

"Our study confirmed that effect. But we also found that more electricity is consumed in the morning. In the end, these two effects wash each other out."

Continue reading "Daylight Savings" »

Posted by Christina at 4:08 PM | Permalink

So this past week marks the second time in a month that I've been pretty sick with a cold. Do you remember reading that book "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, No Good Very Bad Day" ? I read it back in elementary school and it was one of my favorites. Anyway, my point was that I felt like I was having one of those the day I got sick. See, on thursday morning at 8:00AM, I had a lab report for Chem 1a to turn in (a FORMAL lab report, might I add). So, I set my alarm for 7:10 because, well, 50 minutes is PLENTY of time to get ready for class right? Yes. But no, not if as soon as your alarm rings, your subconscious decides to pull a sneaky "lets turn off that darn noisy wake up call and go back to sleep"

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/family/alexander/

Continue reading "sick." »

Posted by Angela Hsu at 9:18 AM | Permalink

It's been one and a half weeks into my lovely vacation. Japanese universities have March off....and some even have February off too. I only have March off [International Christian University]. During this month, I've moved in with my cousin who is located in central Tokyo. The apartment is near Tokyo University [a.k.a. Todai].
Yesterday was quite productive. I finished my HTML final project for the UC Berkeley Extension class Creating Websites with HTML. http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/ Since I could do everything online, I had started in October. One has 6 months to finish an online class. Haha.

Continue reading "A month of Vacation" »

Posted by K. Lee at 5:39 PM | Permalink

Want to share a file with your classmates, but it's too large to send reasonably via e-mail? When I run into this problem, I always turn to Cal Web Files: https://webfiles.berkeley.edu

What is it?

Online file storage and file sharing! It's hosted on campus, is super secure, and available to students, faculty, and staff.

A few tips:

- It takes a little time to become familiar with the interface.

- Since their servers are based on campus, files upload faster when you're on campus than when you log on from a distance.

- You can choose to store things in a private folder, a shared folder, and a public folder. With the public folder, you can share files with anyone, not just Cal students. Shared is only accessible to people with Cal WebFiles accounts, and the private folder is viewable only to you.

Stuff I've passed along via Cal WebFiles:
- Class notes
- GIS maps
- Digital audio recordings of class lectures
- Photographs from study abroad

Posted by Christina at 1:27 PM | Permalink

For though who don't know, on-campus recruiting happens in Fall for most full-time (for seniors) and Spring for most summer internships (2nd, 3rd years, and junior transfers). Although the majority of the OCR deadlines have passed, there are still some great job fairs. Here's one that I've been waiting for. I'll be at the Carbon Forum America Conference in San Francisco until 4pm, so hopefully BART will get me back in time!!! Hope to see you there!

ECO (Environmental Companies and Organizations) Career Fair
Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 5 - 7 pm
MLK Student Union, West Pauley Ballroom

Employers who will be at the fair listed online at: http://career.berkeley.edu/FairDir/fairDirDisplay.asp?fair_id=21

Continue reading "Job Search" »

Posted by Tay Feder at 11:57 PM | Permalink

One of the hard things about "going off to school" is growing apart from people that you used to be close to. It's something that I've had to adjust to this year. It's sad because it makes you realize people you were close to were only your friend out of convenience. The effort it takes to call someone once every week or two really isn't that hard. I've done my best to keep up with friends that have moved and gone to other schools. But when someone doesn't reciprocate those actions it can be hurtful. However the silver lining in the cloud is that there are so many amazing people at Cal. I met a girl this semester and became friends based on the fact we had a class together last semester even though we never talked before. ESPM classes are great because even though it's my 2nd semester I recognize 5-15 people in each of my classes.

Continue reading "Growing Apart" »

Posted by Marissa Ponder at 11:18 PM | Permalink

...come again another day....and it sure has...

It rained for about two weeks straight after Winter Break. Then, we had about a week of wonderful sunshine. I was so surprised! I've been asking some NorCal people and they all say that it gets warm around here in April. So I was extremely happy about the warm weather. I'm from SoCal, so I absolutely love the sun and warmth. I was actually in shorts that week. Alas...it was not to last...

The rain came back and it's as gloomy as ever in Berkeley. Doesn't rain just make you want to crawl back into bed with a cup of hot chocolate and watch tv or read all day? That's what I want to do instead of sloshing through puddles to get to class everyday.

Continue reading "Rain Rain Go Away..." »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 8:21 PM | Permalink

Did you know that CNR is selecting a new dean? There are four candidates this time and you can eat lunch with them! Three of the luncheons have already passed, but there's still one more! This Wednesday is the last luncheon with the last CNR dean candidate. Not only will you get free pizza and soda, but you get to voice your questions and concerns to the candidate. What are his or her goals for CNR as Dean? How will he or she increase student enrollment in CNR? Can he or she make sure classes stop getting canceled at the last minute? Ask the candidate anything that concerns you about CNR!

Continue reading "Have lunch with CNR Dean Candidates!" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 8:12 PM | Permalink

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Time: 7pm - 9pm.
Location: Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight Way, Berkeley.
Cost: Free.
Info: 510-548-2220 x233, erc@ecologycenter.org, www.paksbab.org.

Rebuilding with Straw Bale in Earthquake Affected Pakistan
Berkeley architect Martin Hammer recently returned from Pakistan where he has been working to bring straw bale and other sustainable building practices to the mountainous region devastated by the 2005 earthquake, which was responsible for over 80,000 deaths, and left millions without permanent shelter. He'll give us an update on the work he presented last year, as well as provide details about straw bale construction. Straw bale construction is earthquake resistant, energy and resource efficient, and an affordable solution to northern Pakistan's enormous reconstruction needs. Martin Hammer has been involved with the design, engineering, and construction of straw bale buildings since 1995, and is the lead author of the proposed straw bale building code for the State of California. In 2006 he co-founded Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (http://www.paksbab.org ). Come join us for this informative talk and slideshow.

Posted by Christina at 9:50 AM | Permalink

Would you believe this beautiful earthquake-proof California home is made of hay?

You can find more pictures of that beautiful Berkeley home here:
http://www.2339ninth.com/

Straw home construction started in the sand hills of Nebraska, when the European settlers couldn't find building materials, and made do with straw. Now desired for its incredible ability to insulate, and its safety against strong winds and earthquakes, straw is starting to move up in the world, beyond hobbyists and into the mainstream as a sustainable building method. Even this conference and retreat center, the Presentation Center in the Santa Cruz mountains, has chosen straw for construction.

Straw construction is reinforced with steel and framed by wood. Compressed hay bales make up the bulk of construction, which is later covered with several layers of plaster. Not only are these homes earthquake safe, they are esentially sound-proof with their two-foot-thick walls.

(photo from http://www.redfeather.org)

An organization called Builders Without Borders is making a difference with straw home technology in earthquake prone countries like Pakistan. Straw has become one of the most practical and economical methods for common folk to rebuild their communities after earthquakes. Since hay is grown locally, costs are reduced in all areas of construction, especially with transportation. Here is a link to an organization that promotes and educates the people of Pakistan with hay building: http://www.paksbab.org/

Here's a story from CNN about a straw house in Santa Cruz:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/10/straw.bales/
Website for the Presentation Center in Santa Cruz:
http://www.presentationcenter.org/

Websites of interest:
http://www.strawbale.com/
http://www.strawbalebuilding.ca/strawbales.shtml
http://builderswithoutborders.org/
http://www.redfeather.org/programsStrawBaleConst.html

Posted by Christina at 8:29 AM | Permalink

Spring semester is about 4 weeks in and midterms are looming in the next few weeks...so how is Marissa Ponder-Bowen doing? Well I'm doing just fine. I feel much more adjusted to Cal in my second semester. It's nice to have a rough idea of what to expect. I've added an extra 7-12 hours a week of work to my schedule and made climbing more regular. Last semester I barely made time to go to Ironworks and have made it a priority in my week now. Instead of thinking if I have time I'll go, I've put into my schedule and worked other things around it. Yes I am busy however setting time aside to do something I really want to do forces me to focus and finish my reading/essays in a timely manner instead of procrastinating.

Continue reading "1 Month Check In" »

Posted by Marissa Ponder at 11:56 AM | Permalink

I decided that since I know exactly what I want to do, might as well declare early. In addition, rumor has it that if you declare your major you can have some sort of priority during tele-bears and get other perks over undeclared students. The process would have been a lot easier except I had to declare a simultaneous degree in Microbial Biology in CNR and Arabic in L&S. First I met with my CNR advisor and filled a form with my complete plan for the rest of my semesters at Berkeley. After my advisor signed off on my paper and double checked my schedule I made an appointment with my L&S Arabic advisor so she can sign off on my separate packet that had my plan for the rest of my years at Berkeley. Both advisors had to sign BOTH packets from BOTH colleges. I then made copies of both packets and turned in the CNR packet at Mulford and the L&S packet at Campbell. A week later I got my final approval from CNR and then two weeks later I got my full approval from L&S and now I am officially a declared Microbial Biology and Arabic Major at Berkeley...something feels really satisfying about that.

Posted by Rola Abduljabar Rabah at 8:44 PM | Permalink

Today Dr. John Francis came to speak to my American Cultures & Natural Resource Managment course.

Experience of a lifetime.

He's the one who spent 17 years not speaking while he crossed the United States by foot. He currently spends 6 months every year walking around the world to raise awareness of environmental issues.

He's a UN delegate, and writes environmental policy.

Check out his website (his photo came from here):
http://www.planetwalk.org/

Posted by Christina at 3:55 PM | Permalink

The Berkeley campus is a "dynamic center of scholarship and of cultural and political activity," according to the Campus page of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism's website. I read pamphlets extolling Berkeley's virtues as an ever-changing, constantly shifting forum for ideas and activity. Berkeley has a very dynamic campus, and in more ways than one.

I'm referring, of course, to the construction projects all over campus.

With changes in the school's structure come changes in the physical campus. Increases in student enrollment lead to an increased need for student housing and dining facilities; in other words, more dorms and dining commons. The Bioengineering building (Stanley Hall) was just finished, and the new Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies should be finishing up soon.
All these new buildings are integral to Berkeley's progress as a premier educational and research institute.

Continue reading "Dynamic" »

Posted by Joel Kim at 1:53 PM | Permalink

Today is such a warm, relaxed day. The sun is shining so bright on the green Berkeley campus. A soft breeze blows. Students are walking around in T-shirts and shorts. Yes, it is a perfect summer day...in February.

One of the many things about Berkeley that shock people who come from outside the Bay Area (or indeed, outside of California) is the weather. It is just so warm and so beautiful here. As my friend from Massachusetts put it "You guys don't have seasons out here! Everything is the same!" She said that caroling during Christmas was frustrating, especially during songs like "Winter Wonderland."

Continue reading "Warm Days..." »

Posted by Joel Kim at 1:36 PM | Permalink

What do you call an animal that is a hybrid cross between a lion and a tiger? Well, that depends on who you ask. According to me, it's called a liger- a real living animal... but according to my hallmates and some other skeptics out there, it's a load of bull.
Recently, I've been going through a bit of a "liger obsession phase", which was sparked a week ago by my roomate's boyfriend who was watching a liger video on youtube. He seemed pretty impressed and showed it to other people on the floor(including me)...who welcomed it with varying reactions. Half my floormates thought it was cool, and the other half thought it was all made up. "What proof is there?!" they would ask. Now, I know that googling is not the most completely credible way to find scientific articles, but in order to prove their existance I found some pretty legit sites including national geographic, wikipedia (a little more questionable),

Continue reading "what the liger?" »

Posted by Angela Hsu at 2:25 PM | Permalink

Part of the governor's massive state-wide budget cuts includes a significant reduction in aid for our California state parks, forcing the closure of nearly 20% of our parks.

Here's a map with the affected parks:

Here's the official stance of the state parks on this issue:
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/budget%20fact%20sheet%20w-graphics%20-%2001-14-08.pdf

*Most* of these parks will be closed to public, and placed in a "caretaker status," which requires fewer full-time employees. Many will be closed with no care. The parks they have chosen have the least amount of traffic, generate the least revenue, and are dependent on volunteers. Previous budget cuts have made it impossible to do trail maintenance anyway, so why not shut them down (ACK!!!! If I had known, I would gladly have chipped in extra for admission!)

It is horrible, but it's good to read that the parks tried their best to find the parks that will make the least impact. I'm super sad, though, because Topanga State Park was a favorite for Tom and I to go backpacking. It's on the cutting block, along with several others that I've visited and loved, like San Simeon State Park, Benecia, Railtown, Sutter's Fort, Bolsa Chica, and Tomales Bay. Tomales Bay was one I visited recently with a class. There was some interesting geology there and unbelievably beautiful wetlands.

Here's a website where you can write a letter to the governor about your sentiments on the issue:
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/preservation/state-parks?id4=TAFsent

Continue reading "California is Closing 48 State Parks" »

Posted by Christina at 8:22 PM | Permalink

If you're in GPB or MB, you're going to meet the awesome Undergraduate Advisors Trey and Dana. If you haven't spent time with them yet, you will be required to meet them soon. Be sure to ask them all the questions you have about course requirements - they can tell you all about creative ways to meet your elective requirements, or let you know that you don't really need that insane MCB class you were planning on taking.

Now, something to know - they're new! And dangit - they know their stuff. But occasionally some paperwork gets lost in transitions like this, so don't be shocked if you need to remind them you've completed a requirement.

For any of you transfer students out there - you're going to want to make super good friends with Trey and Dana. That's because they approve all of your course substitutions. If you've attended another four-year school like me, it can get pretty tricky. Like most upper-division transfer students, I took almost all of my lower-division requirements at another school. That means that Trey and Dana have to work some magic to make each one of those count toward graduation. It can be tricky at times, but worth it to not re-take courses.

Posted by Christina at 11:57 AM | Permalink

What you should NEVER, EVER do:

- Never answer your phone and carry on a conversation in the library. It's going to bother at least one person near you.

- NEVER leave your phone on "ring" during class. Turn off your phone, put it on silent, or put it on vibrate

- Do not ever use your phone in a computer lab. Most have it posted on the wall as a no cell zone, but all expect you to know not to use one.

- Never answer a phone during office hours. Just a bad idea. Terribly disrespectful.

- Please do watch where you're walking when you're talking on your cell phone. It's no fun getting trapped behind cell-phone-talking, slow-walking, hand-gesturing oblivious folks on your way to class.

- Please don't have a loud and obnoxious ring tone, in case you accidentally forget to turn off your cell phone in class.

Posted by Christina at 3:21 PM | Permalink

A girl in my dorm is taking an English class on Bioethics presented me with the following case.
A scientist/doctor in Japan has transplanted 42 cases of kidneys into patients on dialysis. The issue with these kidneys was that they were previously diseased but had the diseased portion cut out before transplantation. In none of these cases did complications arise. Due to the situation in Japan, the scientist was unable to present his findings/paper in Japan. Yet, he will be bringing the paper to present in the USA this month (or perhaps he has already presented it this month).

She asked me about my thoughts:
Q: Is this more acceptable in the USA? The USA is probably more open about presenting abnormal, groundbreaking, cases. However, this does not mean that the situation would be more acceptable in the USA.
Q: Would you give your diseased kidney to someone? No. I don't want to deal with liability issues our legal system makes it easy to sue. Even with liability waivers, it is still possible to sue.

Continue reading "Bioethical Issues on Kidney Transplants" »

Posted by K. Lee at 7:24 AM | Permalink

Miami University of Ohio is a small school with a well-established Botany department. I am considering them for my graduate studies. Their graduate Botany department offers a small student - to- faculty ratio, ample funding, and graduate course offerings to drool over.

While I was meeting with faculty, Tom spent his afternoon touring campus and taking photos. A few highlights.

The Botany & Zoology Building

Posted by Christina at 9:14 AM | Permalink