Is there a more spoiled class on Earth thatn American College students? Read this story. I think it merits a complete response.

Corey Goodman and Carla Shatz had a grand vision for UC Berkeley: to build the greatest neuroscience program in the world, to figure out how healthy brains work, and to use that understanding to cure disease.

They wanted a place where chemists and physicists, geneticists and other scientists could work alongside neurobiologists like themselves to unlock the secrets of the body's most mysterious organ. They wanted to change the world. The university wanted them to do it.

But there was no money to build their neuroscience center or equip their hoped-for high-tech laboratories. Today, Shatz is pursuing similar research at Harvard Medical School, and Goodman is the chief executive of a biotechnology company that develops drugs to treat neurological disease.

Harvard is a private institution. How did they do it?

"I was told, 'Corey, help us raise money for X, Y and Z, and then we'll get around to yours,' " said Goodman, who took a leave of absence in 2001 to start Renovis and resigned his tenured position last year. "I didn't want to wait five years for my turn to come up. When I see something is good for society and good for research, I want to go for it."

Good, so his research is going to be done/

Instead of going for it at Berkeley, Goodman just left, albeit reluctantly. And he is just one in a line of prestigious researchers who have abandoned the university in recent years — or are threatening to today — in part because UC Berkeley simply cannot afford to build enough labs, upgrade technology or even keep the floors shiny.

Let's start with cutting all of the chearleading majors-Gay studies, various ethnic studies. Then we can get rid of their snazzy gyms and resort-like dorms.

As voters consider Proposition 1D — the $10.4-billion bond measure to benefit California's schools, colleges and universities — some say UC Berkeley offers a cautionary tale about what happens when the state fails to invest enough money to keep its very foundation healthy, let alone accommodate growth.

California has added some 10 million people in the last 20 years and is expected to grow at about the same pace in the next 20. But growth has barely registered this campaign season, its discussion relegated to a series of bond measures that at best would patch the state's crumbling infrastructure. If they pass — and that's a big "if."

At least the LA Times isn't biased.

As it strains to keep up with technological innovation, protect against the Big One and safeguard its reputation while absorbing a decade of enrollment growth, UC Berkeley could be a stand-in for the state that created it.

So regulation like earthquake retrofitting does cause hardships.

The oldest school in the University of California system, Berkeley is ranked as the leading public university in America by U.S. News & World Report. It sits atop the Hayward fault and has spent more than $300 million in the last 20 years retrofitting its aging buildings to meet stiff seismic standards. But it needs twice that, and another decade, to complete the job.

The campus has nearly $600 million in deferred maintenance costs and struggles to keep roofs patched, pipes sound and heating and ventilation systems working. It no longer washes windows, waxes floors, replaces worn carpets or paints interior walls.
Plastic sheeting is tacked above equipment in some Birge Hall physics labs as protection from dripping pipes. The chairwoman of the music department raided research funds two years ago to paint dingy hallways so picky donors wouldn't turn away. Only 30% of the university's classrooms are wired for updated teaching technology.

I've got an idea. Instead of another Iraq War teach-in, why don't the students get together and fix some of that stuff? Or maybe hire cheaper workers.

The School of Public Health's main building cannot be seismically retrofitted and is slated for demolition. To date, there is no money to build a replacement, and Dean Stephen Shortell is trying to raise $150 million for his school's new home. "Securing the necessary funding is critical for the future of public health in California," he said.

Nervous administrators hope other distinguished faculty don't turn their backs on the Bay Area, lured away by institutions offering facilities UC Berkeley can only dream of. And they worry about how long their university's stellar reputation can last in the face of budget constraints and wealthy Ivy League competitors.

"We are in a war for our intellectual talent right now with major institutions that are far better-funded than we are," said A. Richard Newton, dean of Berkeley's College of Engineering. "We as a society just have to decide: Is this something that we're prepared to invest in, or not?"

Competition- You gotta love it.

One of the toughest battles for Berkeley is over the future of renowned bioengineer Luke P. Lee, an expert in the field of bio-nanotechnology who is on a leave of absence. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has made Lee a full professor for systems nanobiology, crowing in a press release that he is "one of the world's leading experts in the area of micro-fluidics and 'Lab-on-a-Chip' technology."

Lee did not respond to requests for comment. But Berkeley administrators said the Zurich-based institute made the bioengineer a "staggering" offer of facilities and financial support — something they could never even meet, let alone best. Still, they remain hopeful that Berkeley's cachet can woo him back.

"He's said, 'Let's see what you can do in the next year,' " Newton recounted. "He absolutely, positively does not want to leave Berkeley…. [But] he wants to make an impact on the world that is profound and deep through his teaching and work. The challenge: Can he do that in an institution that is not making the necessary investments?"

Those money-grubbing, profiteering academics.

Although Berkeley is a state institution, money from California's general fund covers less than 30% of its annual expenditures, down from about 50% in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Has their operating budget decreased in that time? No, it's probably gone up much fater than inflation.

Not an especially exciting episode, but a necessary transition from last week's emotional triumph. I suppose the producers are trying to return to their naïve and offensive U.S./Cylon political allegory with the tribunals, but it wasn't as obvious in Collaborators as in the first episode. Anyways, the tribunals did provide some great moments of suspense. The fearless Ronald D. Moore doesn't seem to care about killing off important characters or adhering to any Sci-Fi conventions and, therefore, the viewer simply can't predict the outcome of any situation. With Baltar being captured, he may return to his role in the original series where he is actively helping the Cylons aboard one of their crafts.

This story contains this telling passage:

"By abandoning comprehensive immigration reform and embracing election-year political stunts, President Bush and Republicans in Washington have once again put the interests of their party above the interests of the American people," said Democratic National Committee spokesperson Luis Miranda.

Interpreted in regular English, this means: Darn, you just did something very popular and we are at a loss for words. We cannot provide an alternative as popular.

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I think a serious study of the differences in national senses of humour is warranted, Charles. You, more than most, are qualified to write it. I have frequently gotten into trouble in England with my “Irish” (not “Oirish”) sense of humour, and many Irish find English humour very stilted and formulaic – although there are quite a few honourable exceptions. Most people like self-depreciating humour, and take exception to humour intended to demonstrate the superior intellect, virility, or social standing of the humourist. Using humour as a weapon in debate seldom travels well, unless it is to demonstrate a certain ironic awareness of the fallibility of aspects of one’s own case. Did I tell you the one about the French, English and Irish Scientists?

“After having dug to a depth of 1,000 meters last year, French scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1,000 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than a thousand years ago.

Not to be out done by the French, in the weeks that followed English scientists dug to a depth of 2,000 meters and shortly after headlines in the U.K. newspapers read: 'English archaeologists have found traces of 2,000 year old fibre-optic cable' and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-Tech digital communications network a thousand years earlier than the French.

One week later Irish Newspapers reported the following: After digging as deep as 5000 meters in a County Mayo bog, Irish scientists had found absolutely nothing. They therefore concluded that 5,000 years ago in Ireland its inhabitants were already using wireless technology”.

Two parental regrets
Very few things are all good or all bad. Most have some disadvantages and some benefits. Two exceptions to this rule, things having only negative consequences, also represent the two worst parenting decision of my nine year career as a father. The first one I can blame on my wife as it was she who convinced me to purchase a Nintendo Gamecube last Christmas. I didn't need any help to make the other poor decision: ordering cable television.

Now, it's not that my son didn't like the Gamecube. In fact, he liked it better than reading, playing outside, chess, and the lovely educational computer games he enjoyed previous. It was that he wouldn't do anything else. I still don't understand why a parent would let Santa squeeze one of those monstrosities through their chimney. Scratch that. I think parents buy these horrible devices to keep their kid entertained, freeing mom and dad to pursue their reading or TV viewing (or blogging) without the cries for attention that accompany children until they're 16 and don't want anything to do with you.

Cable television was worse. The parade of fart jokes, lightning quick cuts, and jokes meant more for immature adults than children serve no uplifting purpose at all. If you've seen the show Ed and Eddy or listened to the effect television has on your child's vocabulary, you know what I'm talking about. I managed to take away television. I did miss Battlestar Galactica, but after a couple of days, nobody in the house noticed it was gone. Besides, we have Netflix, which is great.

So, fellow parents, Just like there is no advantage to having cookies in the house, there is no advantage to having video games or cable TV. You'll save some money as well.

When somebody read my blog, they were nice enough to complement me. but said that they weren't a "political animal" and thus didn't read Asymmetric. I automatically assumed he was happy and later began to wonder if my instinct was correct; that apolitical people are happier on average.

If one thinks about it, political people would be so because they were motivated by some grievance. If grievance makes one unhappy, then that fact would tend to support my reaction. Political people may also be more inclined to think oppositionally. If I may paraphrase Yoda, anger breeds hate, hate breeds conflict and conflict breeds unhappiness.

I can't think of a reason why political people would be happier.

What do you think?

I'm shocked that such a rational person as Richard Dawkins can succumb to the kind of Christophobic bigotry that has led to millions of dead Christians from Rome right on through the French and Communist revolutions. I find it curious that people will publicly quibble with people's theology in such a disrespectful manner; and in a political context at that. I don't believe in reincarnation, but I don't go around calling Hindus idiots. I don't have time to fully respond until Thursday, when school is out for me, but please ruminate on Dawkins' hate until then.

I'm a Republican and want to see them win. I'm not a Rep. who rationalizes the relative disadvantage of the Republicans this year by seeing all manner of advantages to a loss, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if Dems. take office. For one thing, the president would feel at ease to veto the tax and spending raises sure to follow a Dem. victory. If the Dems. fail to control themselves, it may help return a Republican to the White House.

It's a comfort that the Dems. have absalutely no issues on which to run. None. Do you think the 98.5% of American citizens who don't get the minimum wage care about raising it and seeing their relative wages drop? Health care? Homosexual marriage? Iraq surrender? Why don't they just come out and say it if that's what the people want? A Dem. victory should not be interpreted as an endoresement of their policies.

In fact, if the Reps. lose, one can say it's because they weren't conservative enough as evidenced by Rep. base's grumbling over increased spending and the failure to control the border with Mexico.

The only thing that does concern me is the war. The fact that millions of Iraqis who held out hope for some kind of freedom will be handed over to the most evil people on Earth bothers me. It reminds me of similar US moves in Vietnam and Cuba-not exactly our shining moments. The lesson for the enemy: Americans can't tough out a difficult war. Their view of the West as spiritually hollow and morally weak would have been confirmed.

My second favorite female Cuban singer is Celina who, along with her husband Reutilio, defined a kind of afro-guajiro mix that was unique in Cuban music. Their music combined the guitar dominant guajiros with the sparse but very African conjunto style. The themes in their music ranged from the guajiro-romantic with its idealized depictions of Cuban peasnats to the praise of African saints found in Santeria ceremonies.

Caridad del Cobre is an apparition of the Virgin Mary and is venerated in Cuba much like the Virgen de Guadalupe is venerated in Mexico. This song features Celina in strong voice over an equally powerful rhythm. I love when Celina encourages her husband's guitar playing in the bridge. The lyrics deal with a young guajira who went to town with her love only to be dissappointed. She prays for protection from Caridad del Cobre as she returns to her country mountain seeking refuge.

Listen


Cantos de Cuba

Article

Schroeder says Bush's religious talk worried him
Gulf News Berlin: Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has written in a new book that George W. Bush's frequent references to God in their meetings before the Iraq war had made him wary of the US president's political...

I wonder how much is just the normal secular reaction to any mention of God.

Here is a story where the French are facing increasing violence from its Muslim minority. The key passage is this:

"First, it was a rock here or there. Then it was rocks by the dozen. Now, they're leading operations of an almost military sort to trap us," said Loic Lecouplier, a police union official in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris. "These are acts of war."

I noticed something in the Army which I later applied to my teaching and, eventually, dealings with adults. During basic training, I always tried to do my best with the nicer drill sergeants, rewarding their good treatment with greater effort. There were others who only did their best for the meaner drill sergeants. “By only giving your best to people who treat you poorly, you're asking for more poor treatment,” I would tell my Army mates. From that experience, I began to divide people into two categories: Those who see a weak person, say like an older person on a wheelchair, and want to help them across the street and those who can see the same person and want to rob them, figuring they won't find much opposition. In other words, some people only react positively to punishment.

How does this apply to France? I remember, during their riots, the French decided to have a peace march while their suburbs were ablaze from Muslim youth violence. The rioters, being mostly composed of the second type of person, saw the French peace marches for what they were-demonstrations of weakness- and thus began to do even worse, to the point now where they brazenly attack police officers. The French rioters are asking for poor treatment. When the rioters get that treatment, they will begin to respect Europeans. Unfortunately, it looks like things in France are going to have to get much worse before the French muster the courage for the proper response.

During church this Sunday, I began to notice something unusual. Why couldn't I hear my children, I asked? Where were the complaints of "he touched me" or "he called me short?" Wondering, I looked down and focused on something amazing: My nine year old son was hugging his younger sister! This sure to be temporary truce held all the way home as well, causing me to ponder the effect that Church can have on children and, for that matter, on adults.

To me the argument isn't whether religious people can be bad or secular people good, for only the most extreme would argue against such an obvious conclusion; the issue is whether people are made better by Church. Is a normal person who begins to attend Church more likely to give charity, love their neighbor, or risk harm to help others? Would the people who killed Matthew Sheppard been less likely to commit the murder had they attended Church regularly? Would Aldrich Ames have been less likely to sell spy secrets had he not been a member of Opus Dei? I think the Sheppard murderers would have been far less likely to kill had they just left Church while I don't see how being secular would have prevented Ames from spying.

I've heard arguments by atheists that the opposite is true. One attempt is based on the fact that most people in prison believe in God while few are secular-concluding, therefore that religious people commit more crime. Now, the question shouldn't be whether they believe in God, for belief in God is a default position; people believe in God unless they make a conscious decision not to. The question should be whether they ever thought about religion. In other words, did the criminals regularly attend Church before they committed crime? Did the people in the criminal's community who went to Church commit as much crime as those who did? It's only appropriate to compare people who actively practice their faith with people who consciously don't. Another day, I will try to reconcile the declining murder rate in Europe over 500 years with the decline in faith as expressed in the book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Anyways, I hope whatever effected my children spreads.

Let me know about your experience with people who have converted. Did they become better or worse?

This is one of the best sci-fi episodes I've ever seen. After two weeks of plot complicating, we finally get a climactic battle scene. And it was spectacular; only surpassed, perhaps, by the space battles in the Star Wars movies. There's a big difference between BG battles and Star Wars, however. BG aims for a kind of mock-realism achieved mostly by shaky camera work and unusual, sometimes confusing camera angles. The result looks reminds one of WWII fighter pilot footage.

The drama in the story gets mixed reviews. The Starbuck-Cassie relationship didn't overwhelm the story. The Ty and his wife scene was surprising and genuinely moving while adding a lot to Ty's character. The Adama-Apollo mellodrama we've seen before and is now forgetable. Overall, the action makes 304 a great episode.

This is the sequel to "In search of Eagle One," a fine "B" movie. The writers came up with a good solid plot wherin the terrorists (or Islamofascists, if you prefer) steal a device that can control commercial aircraft in the air. It's actually better than the 4 "Bond" movies with this exact plot because the origen of the device is actually plausible; it's used to control planes that have been taken over by Islamic fascists. The acting is serviceable and the pace is brisk. What really sets this movie apart, however, are the excellent fight scenes, with tremendous, video game style gun battles and a convincing hand to hand fight. This movie should be successful because it fills a niche: It is a pro-American, pro-military, very anti-Islamic-extremist movie. It is the patriot's "Blood in Blood out."

I hope you find nelsonguirado.com interesting. Below are the different sections of this site. Enjoy!

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It's more interesting than many of you realize.

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