There is a slight difference in my opinion. One that draws attention to an issue and supports a viewpoint that gains sympathy and one forces that a viewpoint on others that results in alienation or backlash of that view.

Just because I don't have the time or feel the need to have teargas thrown in my face doesn't mean I don't support a certain viewpoint that pervades that campus. In fact I'm on your team, but forcefully disrupting my right to an education-we're not quite on the same team.

People do not like being forced to do anything! So why do picketers think people will want to take their side with this method? Because they have this stupid romantic view that people will want to join their violent, noisy, shoving party once they've been subjected to it.

I don't think Stockholm syndrome works in this case you guys.

So what's my conclusion: Picketing makes me wish they can't afford the new tuition and drop out and leave me the alone!!!!

What's my lesson? If you need to get through-LIE AND SAY YOU WANT TO JOIN THEN SNEAK OUT THE OTHER SIDE! HONESTY IS NOT APPRECIATED IN THIS DAY AND AGE!!

Posted by Josephine Wong at 1:23 PM | Permalink

If you plan on going to grad school or anywhere else after college than something that would be very helpful to ones application would be research experience. Since Cal loves us dearly they made URAP! Yay URAP! Well URAP basically is a website with a bunch of descriptions for research positions offered by professors and to get the position you have to fill out a URAP application, which includes a statement of purpose that is around 400 words each. In order to minimize shopping they restrict you to applying to 3 internships, which is bad for me because I have to pick 3 out of the 4 I want. Since URAP is open to all UC Berkeley students than the turn out tends to be really good for bio spots with some openings receiving up to hundreds of responses. So check it out!

http://research.berkeley.edu/urap/

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 5:05 PM | Permalink

So summer for me was filled with math and genetics, but I still managed to squeeze in some fun before school starts. After buying some of my books, I have been trying to review my physics from high school to only discover how bad I am in the subject. I’m taking 8A with Deweese so I’m hoping that I can do well if I study enough, but physics is such a strange subject that has always eluded me. The past couple of days my roommates have been bringing stuff from home so now it feels more comfortable with furniture, but I feel lazy since I rarely clean.

Continue reading "The start of school….grrr!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 4:44 PM | Permalink

So as summer is coming to a close I am preparing for fall 2009 and all its difficulties grrr. I’m currently planning to take Bio 1A/L, Physics 8A, Near Eastern Studies 18 and EALC 105. I’m pretty scared for Bio as I have heard plenty of rumors about the labs and professors and as a Bio lover I’m freaking out. Even though I want to take physics I am not enrolled and am like hawk status checking the schedule every minute to see if anybody has dropped. Haha its’ even on my favorites for maximum speed. NES 18 is about ancient Egypt and I have heard is a rather chill class and the material seems rather interesting. EALC 105 is a film class that I am taking with a friend purely for fun and it is suppose to be easy and who doesn’t want to learn about movies?

Continue reading "Plans for Fall" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 5:26 PM | Permalink

So after finals I did what almost every Cal student does and left for home. So during my first month of summer I worked part time as a cashier to make some money and pretty much became lazy while at home. However, around mid-June I came back to Berkeley because not only was I bored from home, but I had signed up for summer classes and had chosen to take Math 16A and IB 141 (Human Genetics). Yah I know the two classes are really different.

Continue reading "Class Review!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 1:26 AM | Permalink

...and I still have no idea exactly who they are and what their purpose is. I do understand they control the dinero flow. Like as who gets a raise and who don't.

Re-slotting? I don't know if their noses are stuffed, but I smell a rat. It reminds me of when companies who received bailout money managed to give raises to their top execs because they wanted to keep them from leaving. Leaving to where? Jobs are scarce-who would leave a cushy job, an especially one that didn't punish them for pulling us all into this wonderful depression?

I find it funny that the regents claim private schools are doing it too. Then again, they aren't relying on public money so they can do what they want. I'm sorry, are we not voters, the money bleeders?

If the cash comes from US, doesn't that make us the BOSS-and as the boss, don't we have a say in how recklessly our EMPLOYEES use up the budget? I know -- democracy.

The same goes to BART unions.

If any law students happen to be reading, I encourage them to inform me so through the comments.

By the way, Forbes has just ranked Cal as #73. Among their many scientific methods, ratemyprofessor.com.

Posted by Josephine Wong at 8:50 PM | Permalink

I don't wanna take two classes of Taekwondo-I don't wanna! Unfortunantely, I have no choice. In order to meet the minimum amount of classes to be full-time, I have to be enrolled in 13 units. So far includes PMB 135/135L, PMB 150/150L & IB 117/117L, if you guys are keeping track-that's 12 units. I can't take another science class, I just can't! I need to take brain-dead-dummy-sleep-getting-a-passing-grade-class-so-I-don't-die-of-science class.

So I'm trying to find something to fill in that last unit-but thanks to my Telebears Phase II just starting today-all the good classes were full!! So I'm left with two martial arts classes back to back. Hey, it was this or jazz dance. I can't rely right now on DeCal courses because it's too competitive.

I'm seeing there is a Directed Group Study for one unit, but how does that work? Is it just for freshman and sophmores, do I have to be enrolled in a certain class?

Why must I waste my time and effort on filler classes!??!

Posted by Josephine Wong at 10:04 PM | Permalink

I just remembered that there was a cool Discovery Channel show on two and a half hours ago. This is one of the times I wish I had TiVo, instead we have TFC, The Filipino Channel. Their erratically scheduled programming includes such wonderful hits such as Wowowee where the male host sings the same song...everyday and further demeans the women (dancers, contestants, cohosts, etc) to:

a) crazy
b) hot pieces of asses (one time they had a beauty pageant, and every question in their Q&A section was about boyfriends)
c) glorified mike holders and question askers

Continue reading "It's Sunday, I'm Bored" »

Posted by Josephine Wong at 10:31 PM | Permalink

I am home right now, after session A of summer sessions have ended. I'm taking three classes during session C though, and I've been even busier than spring semester. But I'm done with Anthro 1. By the way, Anthro 1 (biological anthropology) was a really great class, like the other two anthro classes I've taken thus far at Berkeley (3AC and R5B). I recommend every one of them, and I find all the GSI's and professors in that department to be outstanding. They are all more responsible, knowledgeable, and interested in their subject than I would ever have imagined.

Now to my main subject for today, which is BART. I find BART an excellent mode of transportation for those living around the Bay Area and even for those who don't. The downtown Berkeley station is right next to campus (especially close to CNR headquarters), and the trains come so often that I never need to check any schedule. However, it is times like today that made me want to say that whereas BART can be a convenient way to get around, it may not be the most dependable way.class.

Continue reading "Life and BART Adventures" »

Posted by Jade Liu at 12:26 AM | Permalink

So as I have previously stated I am now declared Molecular Environmental Biology, but I have always thought about getting a minor. After taking NST 11 (Intro to Toxicology) and finding it really interesting, in general, I am thinking of minoring in Motox. The minor requires the following classes.
- NST 110
- NST C112
- NST C114
- NST 120
- NST 121

Continue reading "Class frustrations with minors!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 10:34 PM | Permalink

So I checked bearfacts and all my grades have been posted. Looking at my grades I think my GPA will increase by like .000001 so not by much. No surprise that my lowest grade these past two semesters is a “B” in Chem 3A grrr. I’m actually sad that I will be leaving frechet and going to Vollhardt, but all good things must end. After taking o-chem one thing I learned is that this class is much more problem oriented unlike Chem 1A, which was much more conceptual. For the second midterm I read the book and understood a lot of the concepts, but kind of flaked on the problems…big mistake!! I did pretty badly on the second midterm because I was not familiar with doing a wide variety of problems and circumstances. I made the mistake of not studying correctly.

Continue reading "Grades and O-chem " »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 12:19 AM | Permalink

So I just checked bearfacts and I am now officially declared MEB yaya!!! It feels so nice having something to strive for instead of being confused all the time of what I want to take in terms of classes. So excited =)

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 10:03 PM | Permalink

So my Phase 1 has passed and Phase II should come up in a couple of months meaning that I have to start preparing for Fall 2009 and so far my plan is:

Chem 3B – So I heard that this is a killer class that challenges those who completed 3A and frankly I am kind of freaked that the guy who wrote the book is teaching the class. I was really considering taking Pederson in the spring, but his class tends to be at 8am and apparently he refuses to post up his notes. Event though I heard Pederson is a better teacher there is no way I can function that early in morning and I can’t really learn if I am sleeping.

Continue reading "Fall 2009" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 11:39 PM | Permalink

So as of Thursday morning at 9:30 am the fact that I was done with my first year at Cal seemed to come to me in small bursts of enjoyment. The real reason I was happy was that it would be a while until I would have to use my mental capacity to study and do other stressful activities. The joy that I felt, however, was stained with the deep sadness that I felt knowing that in a couple of hours I would have to say goodbye to my dorm for the last time.

Studying for my last final was really difficult because my Toxicology final was on Thursday, which is the last day of finals, so a great majority of my friends have already been finished with finals a long while before I had finished. While studying many floor mates began to leave and pack which really distracted me, as I would find myself even starting to pack while studying.

Continue reading "End of Freshman Year" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 10:50 PM | Permalink

So I have already passed the storm of finals that, for the past couple of days, has caused me to do nothing but study in my room. While I do still have Toxicology on Thursday morning I have already completed my more challenging finals. It seems that for me around midterm season and especially during finals I have a powerful craving for coffee with me having around 1-2 cups of it on a daily basis just to keep me awake past 4 am and for the taste that I have grown fond of over my time here at Berkeley.

Continue reading "Anecdotes about my time during finals!!!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 2:22 AM | Permalink

I have one more year before graduating, before the culmination of my educational career thus far. And much like many of my high school class of '05, the concern is what to do once that phase of life is over. For most people it's either find a job or grad school. But for me, I don't see either of those as an ideal option. I want to explore...not only the world but primarily myself. And that is where the Peace Corps comes in.

How hard it is to answer the question "Who am I?" Let alone, what I want to do with my life. I may acknowledge my passion for the environment but what to do with that passion is another question. And I don't feel I can take a step forward without answering that. Thus, I have concluded that the best way to find myself is by getting lost.

What exactly does this entail? There a number of routes I can take but it's the Peace Corps that won me over. What better way to get lost than to leave my world of familiarity and predictability for a world completely strange to me. Full of unknowns and nothing for me to depend on, at least immediately. A world where all I have a familiar sense of is myself. Yet as fulfilling as this experience potentially is, I find myself terrified of committing to something so beyond me. Of leaving everything and everyone that I hold dear and comforting. Of not having the sense of security of being able to predict almost everything in my current world before it happens. On having people, situations, outcomes that I can rely on. Leaving it all and bringing only whatever scrap of personality I have developed. Leaving it all for a world that may not accept me. And, most importantly, leaving it all to find myself.

A good friend of mine told me that if it's scary, it must be good. The thought of this terrifies me incredibly, almost to the point of debilitation. I'm going through the motions of committing to the Peace Corps yet I feel that with each step I do it with force upon myself. A big part of me is so scared of it that I don't want to go through with it. Yet, I feel that such a step is necessary for me to progress in my own personal development. And it is by this logic that I continue to push myself towards commitment.

It still scares the shit out of me.

"Strength and Independence"

Posted by Maria at 10:30 PM | Permalink

It's getting to be the season for applying for scholarships and stuff for next year. I'm finding a lot of scholarships that ask for payback in time. There's one health scholarship by the NHSC were you serve for 4 years after residency in an underserved. It seems quite nice as they pay for everything...but they restrict you to family practice, internal medicine, OB/GYN, and pediatrics.

Posted by K. Lee at 2:47 PM | Permalink

The past few days have been pretty challenging, to put it nicely. Yesterday, I completely messed up on my physics midterm. My pencil ran out of lead about half an hour into the exam and I didn't have an extra one. I had just lost my extra pencil earlier that day. Just my luck. So I had to use pen on my physics midterm. I decided to write my answer in the test booklet first, then transfer over to my blue book. Unfortunately, when I transferred my answer, I copied down a sign wrong so my whole answer is off. I also messed up completely on the last problem. I think my brain just decided to take a vacation during my test...

So after the midterm, I had to go home and finish a paper due today at 9:30 am in class. My printer had just run out of ink on Monday, so I ordered ink with next day shipping. They tried delivering it yesterday at 6 pm, but I was taking my physics midterm. My roommate said she would print it out for me today, but then that printer ran out of ink. I sprinted to CNR around 9 am and finally managed to print my paper! Thank heavens for the CNR computer lab!

By the way, there's a CNR movie night tonight! Free movie and pizza! Could it get any better?

Posted by Victoria Eng at 5:08 PM | Permalink

So yesterday I took the Chem 3A final and it was actually okay in my opinion. I was scared the whole day that I was going to die, but I seemed to have had a good figure on each question, albeit I didn’t finish I think I either did terribly or better than I think. I have such a terrible gauge in terms of predicting my scores on midterms. From past experience in Chem 1A when I thought I did terribly I instead did well and vice versa so this might not be a good thing when applying to Chem 3A. Well I know at least now to give myself more than 3 days to study…next midterm I will try and study a whole week before…well maybe ;)

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 5:49 PM | Permalink

Even though I have been done with school since last Wednesday, I did not leave for home until Saturday morning in order for my parent’s pick-up of me to be more convenient. Well I don’t regret leaving late because I had an awesome time with my friends who had their Math 1A final on Friday night. After they finished their final we all immediately went around Berkeley and hit up at least seven shops and feasted upon ice cream, burritos, frozen yogurt and plenty of doughnuts. Later that night we watched plenty of youtube until 3 am and it was all a blast. Early the next morning I packed and having a couple of hours went to the street fair on Telegraph and bought a fossil for my little brother and just toured around the place. Back at my dorm, I had to defrost the fridge and unplug all the appliances and just stared outside my window and glared at downtown Oakland and the Bay and felt an uneasy sadness about leaving behind Cal even though it was for only a month. My farewell was pretty somber since I was the last to leave my hall so I just left my dorm with the only noise being that of my ipod.

Continue reading "Leaving the dorms and Break" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 12:28 AM | Permalink

Well today I just had my in-class midterm for Chemistry 1A and to tell you the truth it went pretty okay. Currently I have a “B” in the class and I plan on staying at a “B”…hope for nothing lower and probably not going to get higher. It seems kind of ridiculous however that the final is in one week and on top of that it is on a Saturday night…ahhhh. But oh well it will soon be over and break will begin. Just relaxing until reality slaps me back into craziness in the form of o-chem. Right now I am just worried about telebears, which I have on Monday.

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 6:07 PM | Permalink

This

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/toxicology/

Is a toxicology blog called

In the pipeline.

I love everything toxicology related... this is quite awesome as it makes tox more relevant.

Now.. back to studying. ahhahahahha....

Posted by K. Lee at 10:02 PM | Permalink

So recently, I posted a blog about how great Berkeley's graffiti is, but I think that this appreciation only goes so far.

There's a black and white wall-thing that was recently erected in front of Dwinelle. I personally thought that it was a waste of resources (could we have funded another section of chem3al labs instead?!), and misrepresented UC Berkeley, whatever. But even though I'm not fond of this wall-thing, the defacing of it makes me very disappointed. Somebody (or a group of people) has decided to take paint (white, yellow, brown) and streak it across several people's faces. Okay, I get the humor in that this defacing is quite LITERAL (the faces are being... de-faced) but I don't think that this is what the vandals had in mind.

It's just really disrespectful to anyone who allowed his or her face to be photographed and get "published" on this wall, and this vandalism only contributes negatively to the community. Bathroom graffiti at least warms hearts, teases out chuckles, or at the very least makes "business" less boring. This defacing... is just disappointing.

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 2:28 PM | Permalink

In order to make my life easier, I use esc to schedule all my classes and frankly I am glad I do because it makes it a lot easier. However, what esc can’t do is leave spots open or open up new sections. I don’t know why, but it seems like all the courses came together and decided to put all discussions at 8 am. I signed up for ESPM 50AC and the class was not full when I signed up (on Nov.3), however 6 out of the 9 sections start either at 8 or 9 am with the other three options already full. So I thought, “well if I am going to sign up for an 8 am discussion I should make it close and wheeler fits the bill.”

Continue reading "Tele-bears is not a perfect world….please don’t mention O-chem" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 12:48 AM | Permalink

Tele-bears is proving to be a headache for me. I'm absolutely confounded as to why I do not meet the enrollment requirements (basically, being a Freshman) for the freshman seminars. Tele-bears is not letting me enroll! ROARRRR! I really like the seminar I'm taking now, (MCB 90: Introduction to Insulin), and I was hoping to branch out by taking something as out of my element as Linguistics. But there are only two spots left in that class and they're probably going to fill up by the time I figure out what's wrong! I don't get it; is it because I'm not Letters& Sciences? I don't think that's it, because I got into a seminar just fine this semester! And it seems to be working for others, because there ARE people enrolled in the seminars! grrrahhh, on the freshman seminars page, it mockingly tells me to sign up during "tele-bears phase I because seminars fill up fast!"

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 8:07 PM | Permalink

There are many, many things that minors can't do. Since I'm not turning 18 until January 26th, I don't get to vote in what is the most exciting election that I've ever witnessed. I can't legally go clubbing, nor can I sign my own release forms. The most frustrating thing is that I can't participate in those cool psychology studies that pay $15 an hour! My friend made $40 yesterday - that's enough to pay for half of a textbook!

Today I went shopping for a Halloween costume. I searched with my friend for hours - we visited Crossroads (not the dining commons, but the thrift/exchange store!), Goodwill, Urban Outfitters, the Dollar Store, Hot Topic, American Apparel, the vintage/thrift store on Telegraph, some fancy dress store, and finally this place called "Fashion Plaza" or something. It took us this long just to find a red strapless minidress so I could be Betty Boop! The dress, along with a lacy scrunchy from the dollar store (my friend creatively suggested that I use the latter as a garter), cost a little over $10. That's not bad, but as I was looking into my wallet, I saw how empty it looked. I haven't really bought anything except for TEXTBOOKS this fall, so its emptiness made me really sad. And it made me feel like a poor, starving college student (I'm not starving though).

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 8:52 PM | Permalink

Well for me my Tele-bears appointment is kind of late…November 3-4. The thing about Tele-bears is that it is so frustrating to plan out all your classes and labs and other stuff and if you’re lucky have no conflicts. The one thing I told myself was that there was no way I would have another 8 am class, however that never followed through. Next semester I will have an 8 am class every Tuesday and Thursday and on top of that it is O-Chem. and its 90 minutes. I wish I could take the 2-3:30 pm, but that conflicts with another class I need. Now back to my point Tele-Bears can be made easy and maybe fun...yah right. This is a website that is sooooo helpful in planning my schedule. You input all the classes and times that you want and it generates multiple schedules.

Continue reading "Tele-Bears made easy!!!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 1:30 PM | Permalink

Like I've said before, college totally changes your eating schedule. You eat when you have time, and in my case, I eat whenever I'm bored. Anyways, right now I'm sitting in my studio and craving vegetable tempura. My roommate and I went to CU Sushi for dinner. I had spicy tuna rolls and vegetable tempura...but yes, I'm still craving vegetable tempura. I'm actually craving the veggie tempura from that one Japanese restaurant in the South Side Asian Ghetto. CU Sushi was ok. They have this 1/2 off menu that's pretty reasonable, but their service isn't the best. My roommate went there for dinner about a week ago with some friends, so she knew that they give you a bowl of edamame as appetizers. Our server didn't give us any, so we asked for some.

Continue reading "Midnight Cravings" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 11:43 PM | Permalink

Ever since I have arrived here my eating habits have become out of whack and plain unhealthy. I love living in Unit 3 because it is so close and very social, however, our residential dinning does not offer breakfast. So what do most of us college kids do? Simple, just skip breakfast. I know this is bad but the excitement and nervousness of college kind of overrides your hunger. For lunch, today, I had a strawberry shortcake ice-cream and a V8 juice (100% juice). I love how the Bear Market is really convenient, but seriously …. the prices make you want to cry. I remember that I bought cereal, soy milk, energy bar, chips and a fruit/cheese plate and the grand total came to little less than $20. Good thing they use meal points and not real cash or I would have gone crazy. And on top of that they didn’t even bag it, they just gave me the bag and told me bag it myself. This awkward eating cycle has caused me to lose quite a bit of weight so whenever I walk I have to pull up my pants or they will fall, but who knows the freshman 15 could pounce at anytime.

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 2:07 AM | Permalink

http://makerfaire.com/

Pyrotechnics, robots, explosions, lasers, tesla coils, solar powered Arnold Schwarzenegger chariot.

I spent this past Saturday at the Maker Faire in San Mateo. The Maker Faire is a huge overwhelming spectacle of the most creative people in the bay area. I spent 10 hours there and still did not see everything it had to offer. I will try to recap some of the highlights:

This nightmarish thing:

An armada of cupcake people:

Some hotdogs cooked using lightning coming off a 25' tall tesla coil. Sorry, no video for this one just imagine lightning striking a hotdog and jumping from hotdog to hotdog down a 20' pole. As it got more intense the lightning began vaporizing the hotdog - this vaporization pulled hotdog bits into the arc and the color changed from brilliant purple to a vivid orange!

Posted by Eric Thurston at 3:00 PM | Permalink

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

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

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

It's St. Patty's Day!
You know what that means - a massive celebration of Irish heritage!

Green, green, everywhere. Most everyone wears green. In elementary school, you'll pinch your classmates if they're not wearing green. Usually the university crowd isn't going to pinch you if you forget to sport a clover.

So, yeah, you can wear just about any color you want on St. Patrick's Day - just don't wear orange!

Why not?

Protestants (represented by the color orange) have been oppressing Catholic Northern Ireland (represented by the color green) since 1509, when Henry the 8th was King of England, but especially since 1690's Battle of the Boyne when Protestant William of Orange defeated James the Second. source
According to my friend of Irish Catholic heritage, wearing orange is"...like wearing a KKK hood on MLK day." He cringes whenever he sees someone sporting orange on his happy holiday. So, as we in Berkeleyans strive to be sympathetic of all cultures, let's remember to wear something other than orange as we celebrate this snake-chasing, green-wearing Saint.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, Everyone!

Clover image from:
http://www.co.bay.mi.us/bay/home.nsf/public/BE2FEDCC7EDDC47885257346006800F6/$file/four-leaf_clover2.jpg

Posted by Christina at 4:45 PM | Permalink

Monopoly is coming out with a new world edition. You can help vote to put cities on the map..

Go nominate Taipei, Taiwan at http://www.monopolyworldvote.com/en_GB/world !
You'll have to register for an account, but... just do it!

If you look at the countries, they don't even list Taiwan. So go out there and nominate Taipei, Taiwan...then starting on the 29th of Feb, vote for it!

and.. yay! Kosovo has independence!

Posted by K. Lee at 6:30 AM | 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

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

I think a common feeling here at Cal is always feeling unprepared. No matter how many hours I read, study, or go to class there's always a moment of unpreparedness (my new word). For example there is guaranteed to be one question on your final that has no relevance/random/impossible. I realized today that there will always be those moments in life beyond Berkeley. I always have an umbrella (no this is not a random tangent), in fact I have two, just in case I lose one. Well of all the days to forget an umbrella and wear a thin sweatshirt, today was not the day. As I walked way across campus in the pouring rain, I got soaked through my sweatshirt and shirt, I started laughing. Yes this was my moment...when it all made sense. Even the weather in Berkeley has it out for me. I'm always prepared for rain...except for today when it poured! I know all my scheming professors were responsible and wanted to remind me that I'm always be unprepared at Cal, even when it comes to the weather.

Posted by Marissa Ponder at 11:34 PM | Permalink

Yes I am still alive and I am still blogging on this site. How long has it been? Forever has it? Well as long as they keep letting me sign on I'll still be blogging. I wonder when I'll finally go to the page and find out they changed the password. I can see it now, "Jonathan, give it up. You're not a fresh face anymore. You've been here for two years. What more can you say?! Please stop!"

It keeps my brain young and limber to write like this anyway. I spend so much of my day writing lame stuff like, "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs."

I am taking an economic demography class. Now I've used this punchline a million times before but I'm still refining it for maximum hilarity. This could take years. In this class they really like to talk about demographics of our industrialized nations and how our more industrialized nations have aging populations and that eventually that population will slowly decrease in size because of plunging fertility rates. Now I'm a pretty normal guy (or so the voices in my head always like to insist) but every time I leave lecture I can't help but feel this need to go and reproduce. Like if I'm being compelled to have hundreds and hundreds of Asian babies to replace all the ones in Japan not being born. If it turns out that there are no Asians in Asia anymore, then it's my fault for not popping out 2.1 babies to keep replacing the population. Sigh.

If you are reading this then you are bored. No question about it. Why don't you cheer yourself up by heading over to UC Berkeley's Wikipedia page and feel awesome at going to such an stupefyingly awesome school? I do it all the time.

Posted by Jonathan Yu at 9:14 PM | 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

The yuletide relaxations have been concluded and now our hero set forth to smite his final semester at UC Berkeley. Last semester was a mind bending decerebrational dropkick of sub-epic proportions. This semester he will surely be transformed into a photo-phobic corpse of the benevolently peering sort. Yay philosophical zombies!! Speaking of which you should all submit to Jonathan Coulton's Re: Your Brains.

Posted by Eric Thurston at 3:03 PM | Permalink

It's still vacation for Berkeley, but I'm in the middle of my second trimester here at International Christian University, Japan. Thus far, I've learned about international representations.

When I think about America, I think about immigration. It's a soup bowl of people. It may be a melting pot or a salad, but either way we're a unique culture of combinations. There is truly no uniting force in the USA except that we are ... here by accident or by purpose (whether our own or some other force). Going overseas, we represent this conglomeration of cultures. Yet, because it is a glop of cultures, when we represent, we are unable to represent the entirety. We do not have a common history, ancestors, or thoughts to bind us together. The question of what is an American is a difficult question.

Continue reading "Representing" »

Posted by K. Lee at 12:59 AM | Permalink

In the recent California storm, some of my family and friends went without power for up to four days. If you went without power for more than 48hrs, you qualify for some cash from PG&E. It's not much, but there's no reason not to take it -- is there? Also, if you lost a lot of food in your fridge or freezer, you can submit a claim requesting reimbursement for food spoilage. Check it out:

Food Spoilage http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdfs/customer_service/claims/claimform_santarosa.pdf

Safety Net The program provides a special, customer service staffed outage hotline, 1 (888) 743-4743 or 1 (888) PGE-4PGE, so you can speak to someone about your particular outage. Call and request a Storm Inconvenience Payment, which are provided in increments of $25, up to a maximum of $100 per event. Payment levels are based on the length of the customer's outage

* 48 to 72 hours $25
* 72 to 96 hours $50
* 96 to 120 hours $75
* 120 hours or more $100

Posted by Tay Feder at 7:42 PM | Permalink

It's hard to believe, for me anyway, that the beginning of the Spring semester is fast approaching. I've been out since December 15th and although I know I get a month off, it certainly doesn't feel like it. It's gone by way too quickly! I feel like I have so much more I need to do and although I love venting on Fresh Faces, I'm feeling pressured to keep it short! So I hope you all have had a great break and get everything together before the 15th! I'm going to miss just hanging out at home and not worrying about readings, problem sets, or anything else, but I am looking forward to being back at school. 'Till then, then, take care!

[edit]
Hmm...it seems that in my haste (from looking at a particular website, and for other reasons which will be touched on shortly) I was under the impression that classes began on Tuesday, January 15th. I feel foolish, very foolish (lmao). It must have been while looking at this (yes, I admit I only glanced at it and then proceeded to close it) that I somehow got the idea that the semester started on the 15th. I mean, it is in bold! And another thing: why the "heck" (substitute appropriate word here, lol) aren't the dates listed on either the schedule, BearFacts, or Tele-BEARS?! I think it'd be helpful having that information available! Anyway, lesson learned though. Next time I will definitely make sure to look for the "instruction Begins" date. Yeah, how about we bold that one instead?! :-P

Continue reading "Less than a week...SIKE, or Psych if you prefer" »

Posted by Juan at 3:32 PM | Permalink

The UC Riverside Biological Sciences Graduate Division has officially lost 2 of my transcripts, GRE scores, supplementary application information, check, fellowship application, and 1 (of 3 total) letter of recommendation.

5 separate envelopes. 2 of which sent from outside the state of California.

They tell me it's all lost in the mail. "If you sent it certified, we might be able to track it."
I didn't.

Let's have this be a lesson for all of us:
Choose to mail everything certified.

Oh, and... Don't plan on getting small-school attention from UC Riverside. No matter how small the program is that you're applying to, the school is massive and you can still fall through the cracks.

Posted by Christina at 3:09 PM | Permalink

I try hard to monopolize your attention. This time my new tactic is to write during vacation when I assume that nobody else is writing because their lives do not revolve around school like mine does. Yes. Today I am going out to buy lead for my pencils - this day is rife with excitement and pregnant with pungent anticipation. I am very picky about my pencil lead. I only use 0.7 mm 2B lead because it gives me the darkest line and the strength to hold up under my hard pressed hand.

Being on semester schedule is unusual. All my other UC friends are on the quarter schedule so their classes start today. This essentially leaves me with more reading and eating time. I wonder if this semester thing is a plot from Berkeley to deliberately isolate itself and its students from the rest of the system. The chess club in my high school did this too and it lead to two things: 1) Unparalleled chess genius-ry - I mean seriously. They'll win even if they give you their queen and let you continually beat them over the head with it. and 2) They danced with only themselves during the school dances.

My search for peace, purpose and good TV reception on CBS continues. I HAVE to watch the Patriots game on Saturday even if it means me wrapping myself in aluminum and sticking my arms out of a 2nd story window.

Posted by Jonathan Yu at 4:18 PM | Permalink

I guess the title of this post has already revealed what I want to share with you guys. And here it goes…

Even though I finished my last final last Friday, I didn’t get to go home till yesterday since I still had to work. Everything before Tuesday was good, because I did not have any finals left and grades were not out yet. However, when I got back Tuesday night, I found out that the wireless network at my place was not working. I tried and tried, but I still could not get my laptop connect to the network.

I was not that willing to go to sleep early. So I decided to go to a place where there is Internet. But then I was too lazy to go out in such a chilly night and I stayed in my room. So what could I do?

I first organized my room and recycled all the scratch papers I had used when I was reviewing for my ochem final. After I clean my room, it was barely 9:00 pm and that was still early for me to go to sleep. So I borrowed magazines from my roommate so that I could have something to read. Even though those magazines were not the ones I would read, I still sat there and read them word-by-word, line-by-line, paragraph –by-paragraph and page-by-page.

I thought Wednesday would be better but I was wrong. The wireless network was still not working. So I spent that night reading the papers I have written for my English class this semester and went to bed really early.

Continue reading "What can I do without Internet?" »

Posted by Yang Cao at 11:29 PM | Permalink

The No. 1 thing people would warn you when you are about to enter college is: “Oh, be careful about ‘freshman 15’!” For me, I was really careful last year keeping a healthy lifestyle and consequently, I did not get my ‘freshman 15’.

But this year, it has been difficult. First of all, I moved out of the dorms so I am basically on my own for meals. As a result, I eat out much more frequently than I did last year. Secondly, I have developed bad study habits as I start to stay up late much more frequently than I did last year to finish my papers and cram in for exams. Consequently, I have to eat snacks (unhealthy ones) to fight away the hunger! Thirdly, since my vigilance toward ‘freshman 15’ has diminished, I do not go to do exercise as frequently as I should.

Here are a few tips I am going to give a try:

1). Go for vegetables and fruits whenever you can
2). Try not to develop the habit to drink sodas because once you get used to them, you would have one almost every meal.
3). It is hard to push yourself to go the gym on a regular basis. So you may want to find things to do with friends that are “hidden exercises”
4). Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to “diet” because this may make you feel left out when you are hanging out with friends who not are not dieting. Have some unplanned days when you can eat whatever…
5). Try to maintain regular eating and sleeping times!
6). Never skip a meal, especially breakfast!

That’s what I have so far. Any suggestions?

Posted by Yang Cao at 1:00 AM | Permalink

Hey! I hope everyone isn't drowning in studying for finals and finishing papers! As for me...I still need to revise...more like, rewrite...my research paper for english. I always get so stressed writing papers. LOL. Ever wonder why I'm a science major? I'm only taking english to fulfill pre-med requirements...but after this semester, I'm going to take a break before taking another english couse. The professor was really good, but writing papers just stresses me out too much.

Anyways, still wondering about the title? Well, I live right across from Tolman Hall, so I can get the Airbears wireless internet connection...until now...On Monday, my internet just died and I haven't been able to use the internet at my studio ever since. I know I sound like such a modern college student, ever so dependent on internet...

Continue reading "Crashing Down..." »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 2:58 PM | Permalink

Whoever decided to give the name "midterms" to exams and papers preiodically distributed and due throughout the semester was nuts! Or maybe, it is just that professors and GSIs are taking intrpretive liberty in defining the "mid" part of midterms.I really have no idea where the semester has gone. Oh wait yes I have, midterms! I thought that last week heralded the end of my midterm season but right when I thought I had a second to breath I was hit by this week, where I actually have a paper due everyday (Tuesday to Saturday). I have to think positive and look on the bright side, Thanksgiving is coming up and before I get a chance to crawl into bed for a full night's sleep it will be time to get on a plane and fly on home to Los Angeles. I can't wait!

Oh yes, and I just remembered that I promised a few pictures from my summer travels abroad, so just to liven up this post a little bit, I will post a few here...

Continue reading "Drowning in (end of the semester) midterms. STILL!" »

Posted by Nikki Fernandez at 4:26 PM | Permalink

One: It takes exactly 3 months to use up a 40 mL bottle of mosquito bite anti-itch medicine. That's plenty of mosquitoes causing me pain in order to reproduce and produce more mosquitoes that will cause me future pain. Irony.

Two: The best time to take a shower in the communal girl's shower at International Christian University - Japan 's 1st Women's dorm is between 12:30 A.M. and 1 A.M. That is when the showers are normally full and you are trapped with people that must talk to you. :) It's good practice. When else are you going to talk to people for a full 15 minutes without using your electronic dictionary?

Posted by K. Lee at 9:28 AM | Permalink

Hey! I know everyone's probably pretty busy around this time...midterm time! So far I've had a Chemistry 1A midterm and a Math 1A midterm. The Math 1A midterm was today. Have you ever put down an answer, think about it, change it, and it turns out that your first answer was right? I always do that. I know I've missed a problem on my math midterm already. :( Yes, I just needed to rant about it, so bear with me. *sigh* It was such an easy problem and I was going to put the correct answer! Then, I counter-guessed myself and put down a wrong answer. Oh, well. There's still one more midterm and a final, so hopefully I'll still be able to get a good grade in the class overall. I really really hope so! Good luck to the rest of you on your midterms!!!

Advice: Go with your first instinct! It's usually right! Don't change it unless you're absolutely certain that your first answer is wrong.

Posted by Victoria Eng at 9:29 PM | Permalink

I've always heard that scheduling was a nightmare, but my schedule seemed to work out perfectly. All my classes were evenly distributed throughout the week, averaging about 3 lectures/discussions per day. Sweet, no?

Since I'm premed (forgot to mention this in my first post...), I have to take a year of math. So, of course, I opted for the easier calculus course: Math 16. Then...

The Nightmare:

On the second day of school, I freaked out because my friend told me that premeds are supposed to take Math 1, not Math 16. So....I sent an email to the Plant and Microbial Biology advisor Marjorie Ensor, asking if Math 16 fulfilled the math requirement for premeds...but,

Continue reading "Scheduling Nightmare" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 10:30 PM | Permalink

Working at Sears as a cashier would seem like an easy, no- brainer job. Hah. Think again. I actually learned many skills there. For instance, learning how to fold clothes or dealing with difficult customers who want to return items that are pass the 90 day limit. Like this customer. Geez. She and her husband come in. I smile and greet them. When I look down, I see a toy that has been somewhat neatly placed back in its container, but the container was wrapped with clear tape, like attacked with tape more so. So, the lady asks, " I need to make a return, please. " Okay, so as I'm doing the return, the computer replied back as "invalid" I look down at the receipt and the DATE SAYS 01/13/04.!!!!!!!! I mean, c'mon. This is like three years old!!!!!!,. NOT only that, it's a toy!! It's probably cus her kid decided that he doesn't like the toy anymore and the mom wants her money back. I mean, you could put it up for a garage sale or send it to a place where the less fortunate kids can play with it. I kindly tell her about our Sears policy and she says," Well, I can't believe u aren't going to help me. I am never coming back." Whatever. But what I learned there was valuable, i mean, i kept my own opinions to myself and didn't even yell at her own mistake. Bye.

Posted by Casey Wang at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Not a lot of developments over the summer. Usually you hang out with friends, go to class, do homework and hang out with friends. Rinse and repeat, dry and erase, cut and dry, cut and run? Err, enough with the weird phrases.

Interesting thing about living in the dorms. I went to costco recently and bought a gazebo's worth of canned food. Unfortunately I had no can opener. I thought this was a no problem until I went to the nearest Wal-Greens and tried to purchase a can opener for myself. There was none. I went to many stores since then and have yet to find a single can opener. I was not unpissed. I had to have my can opener mailed in from home. Doesn't that very idea kind of makes you laugh? I had my can opener sent in from Anaheim, it's as if the can opener was some sort of mystical savior device that can feed and redeem you in a single twist. Which of course that it is.

I am taking Chinese 1 which is essentially a 10 week accelerated language course. It's the best one of its type in the world. I cannot think of any other university that offers a one year course in two and a half months. Harvard don't do that and Yale don't do that and Stanford ESPECIALLY don't do that. Nuh uh!

My classmates hail from far and wide. There's a guy from Tufts and a guy from Upenn and a guy from Stanford. Gotta admire the mixing pot. Give the mixing pot props.

I got a trillion stories to tell (most of them highly illegal) but I'm going to have to leave you with just the infamous Can Opener one only. Ha! Keep checking the blogs, mistah!

Posted by Jonathan Yu at 5:47 PM | Permalink

So I'm officially tired of looking at overpriced crappy apartments. I'm sure this sounds cliché but I never knew finding a place close to campus that wasn't like $1000 per person a month would be that hard. But atlas, why such aggravation at something I knew? Because....I didn't get the affordable place, close to campus that would take my dog!!! I even baked the landlord cookies, and she still gave it to someone else...AHHHH!! That means tonight instead of going climbing and doing yoga, I get to go look at another place, that’s farther away and is more expensive. To the rest of you good luck finding a place! I tend to be optimistic so I know everything will work out in the end, and yes supposedly everything happens for a reason.

Posted by Marissa Ponder at 9:29 AM | Permalink

After staying in one of the dorms for my first year at Cal, I would like to share my impression on all the residence halls.

Unit 1 is commonly considered the best of the units. It seems to be in the middle of social/academic priorities, such that you can study when needed, and the place isn’t like a giant fraternity 24/7. It is close to Crossroads (one of the dining commons) and is also pretty clean.

Unit 2 was renovated recently, and is only a ten minute walk from campus. Since it is a little bit farther away from campus, it is a bit louder and social.

Unit 3 is conveniently located as it is literally two blocks away from the Sather Gate. There’s the Bear Market, Cafe 3, and some other eating places. It is kind of loud and has a pretty diverse spread of class years.

Foothill is expensive, mostly unsocial, and far from the Recreational Sports Facility (gym). But if you’re a chemistry/mathematics/engineering/physics major, then Foothill is about 5 minutes away from most of your classes. If you’re humanity major, then you’re likely to whining about climbing up the hill in front of Pimentel Hall or the stairs behind Hearst Mining.

Clark Kerr Campus has really nice rooms, but it is very far away from campus. Another problem is that its DC only opens from 6-8 PM for dinner, and there is no late night service or restaurants around. So if you accidentally missed dinner, you pretty much have to stay hungry (snack is always another option) till the next day.

Bowles hall, though all male, probably gives you the biggest living area, with large closets, bedrooms, and an adjacent study/common room. It also sports a terrific view of Berkeley, if you get an outward facing room.

Stern Hall…not too sure…

Anyone has other things to add?

Posted by Yang Cao at 12:22 AM | Permalink

More than two years ago, I was a h.s. senior eagerly looking at Berkeley. I was visiting Cal a week before Cal Day. I'd looked up the Toxicology building, Giannini, on the website. Walking up those beautiful marble steps, I was wowed. The elaborate details and elegance stood out. As my parents and I walked down the hallowed halls, a professor came out.

She asked, " Can I help you?"

That in itself was amazing. I'd expected Berkeley to be this enormous and impersonal place. Instead, there was an engaging, friendly, professor. She took the time to answer my questions. There was an enthusiasm I'd never seen before. Before we parted ways, she offered me her e-mail address so that I could ask any questions I had later.

That day was the day I decided to go to Berkeley. My worries of being lost in the crowd dissipated. Now, I'm not sure about the rest of Berkeley, but its hard to be lost at the College of Natural Resources because the people there care.

Posted by K. Lee at 1:27 PM | Permalink

Today I went to 99 Ranch, in Richmond, where I purchased some delicious tea-type stuff.

"Honeysuckle Flower Beverage" The majority of the packaging is in Chinese characters, which of course looks beautiful but... well... I only took one semester of beginning Mandarin.


I love 99 Ranch.  Incredibly inexpensive deliciousness.  A Chinese grocery store - easy to get to on BART, or from campus just hop onto AC Trainsit bus #43/El Cerrito Bart and get off at Pierce St. & Pacific East Mall.

Posted by Christina at 9:30 PM | Permalink

I'm blogging from class. What? I'm not listening to the professor? Yes, I'm still listening to the prof. Multitasking, my dear Watson. "Suuuure you are," types my buddy Matt. Well, that shows how he's paying attn too.

I just thought that I should show off the magnificient internet connection that is present everywhere on campus. We call it "AirBears." Awesome eh? You can be downloading, e-mailing, and AIMing in class. Not that anyone ever does that though. ^^

For deaf students, closed caption is shot over this web connection to their computers. Thus, it actually is important for students to not use it in the larger classes because it'll slow down closed captioning. That's another topic for another day.

Posted by K. Lee at 11:26 AM | Permalink

Today my Plant Morphology lab course took a little trip up to the Botanical Garden.  We were given a scavenger hunt of sorts, where we were to find examples of specific mophological traits.  Who wouldn't love roaming around a beautiful garden with a bunch of your friends, learning something new at the end of a stressful week?



Jose Arevalo, Reihaneh Fakourfar, April Dobbs, Danielle Johnson

Today was also our midterm for Morphology.  In preparing for the exam, I realized something this week.  CNR offers something that is difficult to find around campus - a community.  Our class size for Morphology is small.  20 people.  I know all of them.  We all know one another.  We meet up for study groups, we ask one another questions.  When one of us can attend office hours, we pass along the information that we gleen to those in the study groups.  It's different in the College of Natural Resources than the other courses I've attended on campus.  It's a cooperative feel.  The competition that comes along with hundreds of high-pressure students is on the other side of the campus.  We're over here, studying microbes, forestry, genetics, and so on... studying what we love, enjoying what we learn, and making friends that walk with us through our journey.  We were in classes together last semester, we're together again this semester.  We know how to study together, and we're not afraid to help one another understand the difficult concepts.  The more we're able to teach one another, the more we're able to enjoy the subject that we're learning.  I love this program.

Here are some more photos of us having fun with morphology today.


Reihaneh


Me with a member of the Cycadales.

Posted by Christina at 7:40 PM | Permalink

So maybe you’ve heard that our school is getting 500 million dollars from the multinational energy company formally known as "British Petrol" for the development for alternative fuels? "BP" seems to be as nice as you could hope a faceless multinational company would be - on the one hand they are the worlds leading producer of solar cells in the world, and on the other hand they've just extricated themselves from a very dodgy situation in Columbia involving paramilitary forces and local farmers.

I got a chance to attend a student round table discussion with Dean Ludden of the College of Natural Resources. A lot of the CNR students are really upset about this deal. From what I heard at the meeting some of the money is earmarked for the bioengineering of new enzymes to pull more fossil fuels out of our drying wells and 10 BP employees will become faculty here at Berkeley. Tenure track, student instructing, public statement issuing faculty. O_O Boy, this certainly doesn’t seem like a morally ambiguous situation!

The discussion was moderated by Professor of Bioethics, David Winickoff. He recommended the formation of a student ethics group to watch over the program. I’ve got a meeting on Monday with him to talk about what can and ought to be done. It's hard to keep up, this past week has been somewhat psychotic, midterms and papers and exploding roommates for days.

"One if by land, two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm."

Posted by Eric Thurston at 12:41 PM | Permalink

The main reason I am in CNR is because I enjoy what I am studying. I know that the environment is a crucial part of the human experience, on the individual, social, and global level. There is no more denying the fact that we humans are part of the environment, as much as we may try to deny that fact with our urban centers and sidewalk cafes. I am interested in nature and how humans, both individually and as a society, interact with it. CNR gives me a chance to really explore my interests. I also enjoy the field trips and time outside that we get to spend.

Continue reading "My Journey Into CNR (aka why you should be here)" »

Posted by Joel Kim at 5:05 PM | Permalink

Aldo Leopold was a forester, conservationist, ecologist- I think philosopher of axiology ought to be added to this list. Axiology is the philosophical branch concerned with ethics and aesthetics and, for Leopold, ethics in land use and conservation are key to understanding our place in not only human communities but also in the biotic community at large. In 1949 Leopold published The Land Ethic, in which he outlines a very different way we ought to understand our relationship with nature.

He argues that man had an obligation to the land rather than a dominion over it. He says:
"Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land." We ought to practice sustainability because we are above all things beholden to the land. Leopold's ecological ethic is a sad contrast to some of the wholesale exploitation that persists 58 years later. The Land Ethic is deeply sensitive and thoughtful ethical theory. It's foreruns both the modern conservation and deep ecology movements.

A worthy read, neither for the overstimulated nor the short of attention, can be found here:
The Land Ethic

Posted by Eric Thurston at 12:42 PM | Permalink

As a new member of fresh faces, I will start with a little introduction. My name is Nicole (nikki) Fernandez and I am currently a third year undergraduate who recently switched from Molecular Environmental Biology to the Conservation and Resource Studies Major. So why do I love CNR? As one of the smaller colleges on campus CNR offers a nurturing, intimate environment where class sizes are smaller and more attention is paid to the individuals. I have loved my professors and have gotten to know many of them on a first name basis. One of the things that CNR offers that not many other offer are chances for field work or field trips. Yesterday, I took a little trip to Ano Nuevo State Reserve with my Wildlife Ecology class with Justin Brashares. So what exactly attracts people to the reserve and keeps people piling in from year to year?

That's right, it is the elephant seals. Mating season begins around December and lasts until about March. We saw a few pups that did not look too good. Our guide told us that about 60% of yearlings die, which according to my amazing wildlife ecology skills tells me that they probably have a type 3 survivorship curve. We also learned a few things about their feeding patterns, molting, behavioral patterns, mating and gestation, weaners, birth, and development. It was a lovely and welcome escape from the sometimes dreary classrooms of Berkeley.

Posted by Nikki Fernandez at 10:24 PM | Permalink

I'm taking five courses this semester, four of them for my major, one for fun.
MCB 102 Survey of the Principles of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
NST C114 Pesticide Chemistry and Toxicology
PH 150A Epidemiology (the study of diseases)
UGBA 96 Personal Finances
Chem3BL OChem Lab

Guess which is the fun class....Personal Finances. =) That's the great thing about Molecular Toxicology. There's so much room to explore since our only breadth requirement is 22 units in the Humanities, Social & Behavioral Sciences, Philosophy & Values, or Foreign Language. That covers pretty much everything you would want to study. Actually, it doesn't cover my Personal

Continue reading "Classes I'm taking Spring 2007" »

Posted by K. Lee at 4:14 PM | Permalink

My Top 10 places to eat in Berkeley (in no paticular order)
1. Smart Alec

2. Café Intermezzo

3. Tako Sushi
4. Tai Basil
5. Gypsies
6. Zachary’s Pizza

7. Las Palmas
8. Tuk Tuk Tai
9. Café de la Paz

10. Yogurt Park

(images retrieved from google.com)

Posted by Mayra Ceja at 11:19 AM | Permalink

Sponsored Programs for Undergraduate Research.
It's a program that allows you to come up with your own resarch project, with the help of a faculty mentor - and it gives your lab money to work on your research. Where does the money come from? Donations from Alumni in the College of Natural Resources!

What a great use of resources!

When you're studying the sciences at a credible institution you're expected to have a bit of research experience under your belt before entering the working world....

Continue reading "What is SPUR?" »

Posted by Christina at 1:31 PM | Permalink

They took me in. I was rejected from UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, UCLA and UC Davis. Not too often that you meet someone at Berkeley that was flat-out rejected from the lower-ranked UC schools. The only school that even considered my application was Riverside; other than Berkeley, that is.
Why did they reject me?

Continue reading "Why I love CNR" »

Posted by Christina at 1:08 PM | Permalink

Today I scrubbed grease off the stainless steel wall beside the oven in the kitchen. It's an industrial kitchen. As I was cleaning, I thought about how I really do enjoy the cooperative living arrangement, and community living in general.

Continue reading "Cleaning" »

Posted by Christina at 1:55 PM | Permalink

I am taking away from my precious midterm study time to write this little blog entry. I am too kind. Anyway what I wanted to talk about is the X-lab. It stands for Experimental Social Science Laboratory and it's located in F310 in Haas. What you do is sign up for a couple appointments and then you go in and you do these social experiments and then you get paid at the end (by check, irritatingly). Sounds good right? Wrong! The X-lab is in reality a simulation of the world, a eat or be eaten mentality that pits you against the smartest (and poorest) Berkeley students on campus in a dangerous and high stakes game of chance and probability. Only the luckiest survive!

Seriously though, it's a good way to make a couple bucks. You get at least 5 dollars for your trouble - if you really really suck at probability games and are really unlucky. Unfortunately it seems like you need to have a little knowledge of game theory before you start making the big bucks ($20!). Today's x-lab was a little thing about "Would you rather have someone in your group get 2 dollars and you 9? Or would you rather it be 6 both?" I told this to my roommate and he started spouting some nerd talk about Nash Equilibrium. DIdn't Nash win MVP last year? Or is he talking about Russell Crowe?

Try X-Lab. I'm serious, it's really fun. You get paid for playing a game (it's almost like being a professional game athlete) and you get to help other researchers at Haas. I feel like I'm helping the world over, and that feeling is classic.

Posted by Jonathan Yu at 12:34 PM | Permalink

Apparently, Cal students like to go to football games. And they are very supportive of their football team. Who knew? Yesterday was a game day but I didn't go. There are many reasons for this. I can make up a few right now. Hold on. Umm, well I had to return a blanket yesterday in San Francisco. I also don't want to stand up for so long. Yeah those are good reasons. I think I'll eventually go to a game ... the Stanford game.

Continue reading "Berkeley After a Football Game" »

Posted by Jonathan Yu at 8:09 PM | Permalink

For a Conservation and Resources Studies major, one of the most interdisciplinary majors offered at Cal, there are few hoops you must jump through, but ESPM 100: Environmental Problem Solving is one of them. You want to be in CRS, you take ESPM 100. Non-negotiable.

It’s funny how required things never seem like they’ll be much fun. Before I had even walked into 141 Gianinni for the first time, I had already made up my mind: just because the College of Natural Resources mandated that I learn how to environmental problem solve didn’t mean I had to enjoy myself. I secretly prayed I was too far down on the wait-list to get in the course, and not-so-secretly groaned when I discovered that one third of the class was to go on a compulsory field trip – counting for twenty percent of our grade – that weekend. Of course, fate was such that not only did I get into the class (even with a phenomenally large waitlist), but I was also selected for the field trip. I anticipated lots of dry lectures and awkward campfire silence.

Continue reading "Nothing better than a weekend with your professor in her pajamas" »

Posted by Rola Abduljabar Rabah at 3:53 PM | Permalink