During the Makers Faire in San Mateo, California, the ACCRC brought in tons of computer and electronic parts which were salvaged and reused for various projects.

Sadly, the State of California is threatening to shut down the ACCRC, mostly for failing to maintain an inventory of all of their computer equipment, and for keeping interesting/historical equipment onsite (a Computer Museum), instead of destroying the equipment.

I’ve been using ACCRC (and their predecessors) for years, and I’ve volunteered for several Linux installfest events using their hardware. I sincerely hope that State is able to work with the ACCRC and reach a compromise.

Read about it, read comments by other people, add your own comments, and vote on the issue at KitchenDemocracy.org.

Here is the letter from Mayor Tom Bates, inviting Berkeley residents to participate in the discussion online at KitchenDemocracy.org

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From: Berkeley Mayor’s Office
Date: May 17, 2007 7:21 PM
Subject: Special Bates Update: Please Provide Input on Street Behavior Initiative

The Bates Update

** Special Edition **
News From Mayor Tom Bates
May 17, 2007

On Tuesday, May 22nd, the Berkeley City Council will continue its work and discussion on my proposal to create a comprehensive and integrated new initiative to address street behavior problems through enhanced services, new diversion programs, clear rules for behavior in all city commercial districts, and improved enforcement.

At this meeting, the Council will review and discuss a list of specific recommendations that will provide the basis for our strategy. If you would like to read more about this initiative, you can do so on my website at www.cityofberkeley.info/mayor or go directly to the City Council Agenda Packet (Item 32c).

Given the importance of these issues, I have remained committed to getting as much community input as possible through public meetings, Council forums, Commission workshops, and other venues.

We are also using the electronic forum Kitchen Democracy to provide another avenue for feedback and include more members of the community in the discussion of this topic. I encourage you to visit Kitchen Democracy to review the issue, read comments from other people in the community, make your own comments, and cast your vote on the issue.

Of course, you can also come speak at the Council meeting (7 p.m. on Tuesday at Old City Hall – 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way) or email your comments to me at mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us.

These maps no longer function, as the City of Berkeley has deactivated their data. When I asked the Berkeley Police Department about this, they said that they were going to offer their own crime maps online in a few months.

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The City of Berkeley used to have some crime maps on their website. They stopped updating the maps in 2003. The maps were input by hand, and it was a labor-intensive process. They Berkeley Police Department abandoned the Crime Maps in favor of the new Berkeley Police Bulletins system– however the documents are incredibly cryptic and require much work to be useful to most people. The Police Department added a layer of complexity by taking a plain text document and stuffing it into a proprietary PDF document.

A fellow Berkeleyan created some new online crime maps. They are updated daily, using the same Berkeley Police Bulletins which are released once per day. The site features email alerts, so you can be notified if a particular street is mentioned in a crime report.

Here is the website:

http://www.incidentlog.com/lookup.pl?Src=56

I've been looking for a good calendar app for a while. I've been using Yahoo Calendar for years, and it's too darn buggy with a cluttered interfaace. and I'm excited about this one.

http://www.google.com/calendar

Check out my screenshot

Sadly, I never took a screenshot. Drink up.

Here are some of my ideas:

Fireflies:

I really like the effect of the Fireflies in Pirates of the Caribbean. They may not seem Halloweeny, but they can add a nice ambient atmosphere. The Fireflies are probably best when viewed at a distance.

I haven’t actually tried this, but I’ve read of similar setups elsewhere. It will require some experimentation.

Partlist:
- 12v worth of batteries & battery holder
- 12v transformer
- Low voltage LEDs (White or Ultraviolet!!!)
- Plastic or paper for the blinders/wings, matte-black
- Thin gauge magnet wire (lightly insulated and painted matte-black)
- Springs
- A board to attach it too
- A fan

Solder the transformer, wire & LEDs together. Arrange the wires in a spring-like shape or attach them to the board with springs.

Put a blinder on the LEDs so the light is blocked from some angles and visible from other angles. This will make the fireflies appear to blink.

Put the setup in front of a fan. The blinders will act as wings and catch the draft provided by the fan. The spring on the wire will make the fireflies appear bob up and down.

Now you have wiggling, bobbing, blinking fireflies!

There are some other instructions here:
www.hiddenmickeys.org/Imagine…g/Imagineering.html
www.geocities.com/oooketchup/POTC_ff.htm

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Ghosts:

This project is pretty simple & low-cost, but it’s not well known. You can do a bunch of different stuff with ths idea.

Partlist:
- Thin fabric like gauze or muslin
- Blacklight
- some spray-on laundry detergent that contains “whiteners” (Phosphorous, etc).

Cut the fabric; spray the laundry detergent onto the fabric. Hold the fabric under the blacklight. The whiteners in the laundry detergent are actually chemicals like phosphorous or zinc sulfide that glow brilliantly under blacklight.

Use springs, string to hang them. A fan can make them bounce. Helium balloons can make them float around very well.

A Stefan Lasiewski original!!!

This one struck me during a discussion on Slashdot, which I’ve been reading for close to 8 years now (wow!).

The quote is a play on the Free Software analogy by the GNU foundation, where they discuss the odd dual-meanings of the word ‘free’ (’free’ as in free speech vs ‘free’ as in free beer).

Merging conflicts by hand can be quite intimidating the first time you attempt it, but with a little practice, it can become as easy as falling off a bike.

You would think they actually meant “as easy as riding a bike”, but no … I think they really did mean falling. Merging conflicts in files is tradionally the bane of all version control systems. I’ve seen developers throw their hands up in the air, give up, and run to the bar for a good beer when resolving conflicts in Clearcase & CVS.

We’ll see if SVN is any better at handling conflicts.

… and smashed with a sledgehammer, to ensure that the computer is never turned on again.

… and set on fire, to the temperature of 600F, which should be sufficient to destroy the magnetic bits in the hard drive.

… and then nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.