The PTA for our Berkeley Public School forwarded the following notice today. BUSD will remain in session on Wednesday.

—-

BUSD Schools Will Be in Session on Wednesday

We have received calls from parents asking what the BUSD will do in
response to the call for a General Strike by the Occupy Movement/99%ers on
Wednesday November 2nd. While we understand the reasons behind the Occupy
Movement and the call for a strike, we feel that as educators it is our
responsibility to continue educating our students, thus school will be in
session. We believe that in doing so; we empower them to make a difference
for future generations. Our understanding with our unions is that they are
calling on employees to participate in the rallies scheduled at the Occupy
locations at 6 p.m. One thing that this does is to insure that parents who
are participating in the day-long event do not have to worry about their
children, who will be experiencing a normal school day in the Berkeley
District.

Hemos recibido llamadas de padres que preguntan lo que el BUSD hará en
respuesta de una Huelga General por la Ocupar res Movement/99% el
miércoles 2 de noviembre. Si bien entendemos las razones detrás del
movimiento ocupa y la convocatoria de una huelga, nos parece que como
educadores tenemos la responsabilidad de continuar educando a nuestros
estudiantes, por lo que la escuela estará en sesión. Creemos que al
hacerlo, nosotros darles la posibilidad de hacer una diferencia para las
generaciones futuras. Nuestro entendimiento con nuestros sindicatos es que
están pidiendo a los empleados a participar en las manifestaciones
programadas en el Ocupar lugares a las 6 pm Una de las cosas que hace esto
es para asegurar que los padres que participan en el evento de un día no
tienen que preocuparse por sus hijos, que vayan a experimentar un día
normal de escuela en el distrito de Berkeley.

==========================================

Mark A. Coplan
Public Information Officer, BUSD
510-644-6320 Cell: 510-472-3811
Mark_Coplan@berkeley.k12.ca.us
Berkeley Unified School District
2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley, Ca 94704-1180

I’m supporting a proposal to create a new Q&A website for database professionals, system administrators and software developers who wish to improve their database skills and learn from others in the community..

It’s built on the same software as stackoverflow.com, a hugely popular site where over seven million programmers help each other with difficult programming problems. On Stack Overflow the audience votes for the best answer, so the answer you want is usually right at the top, not on page five.

I’m hoping that a site for database professionals, system administrators and software developers who wish to improve their database skills and learn from others in the community. would have the same kind of network effect and turn into an amazing resource.

The proposal process is going on here:

http://bit.ly/outerjoin (or http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/4260/databases )

If you’re interested in participating, go to that URL and click on the green “Commit” button.

Thanks!

This Fall, Recycling Gets Twice as Easy — Split Cart Delivery Begins in October

Residential Recycling Services – City of Berkeley, CA.

The City of Berkeley is upgrading our Recycling Bins to be a new Split Cart design. The City and the Ecology Center (The folks who run our curbside recycling business) believe that this will reduce curbside  recycling poaching.

I have a dozen  Belkin OmniView PRO3 KVM Switches, and I was hoping to convert these to be KVM over IP devices, so that we could access more devices remotely from home, and possibly get rid of our Serial Console devices.

Belkin ships their PRO3 switches with a flyer which says I can buy an add on to convert the Switches to a KVM over IP device, using the OmniView IP* 5101K – KVM/IP Device (Part # F1DP101M). In fact, Belkin’s knowledgebase says that these devices should work fine together. But apparently this is a lie.

According to Belkin support, these products have several compatability issues. I didn’t press on those specific issues (it’s difficult to have a conversation over IM with someone who has poor English skills). Here is an excerpt from my chat:

ME : Hello, I have an OmniView PRO3. Are there any add-on products to convert this switch into a KVM over IP switch? The KVM switch came with a flyer that says I should ask for the F1DP101M, but Belkin support told that this doesn’t work with the OmniView PRO3.
ME : Hello?
BelkinSE: We are extremely sorry to inform you that F1DA116Q when used with F1DP101M has some compatibility issues and we do not recommend it.
BelkinSE: But F1DP101M works well with SMB KVMs
ME : Ok, are there any IP over KVM solutions for the PRO3 KVM?
BelkinSE: Unfortunately no.
ME : Too bad.
ME : Your website says that the F1DP101M will work with the PRO3 switches. See  http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=F1DA108Z&aid=14348&scid=0
BelkinSE: That’s correct but when tested under lab there were some complexity involved in configuration and we do not recommend using F1DP101M with PRO3 KVMs
ME : Hm. Ok. I guess I won’t buy one.
ME : You need to fix the website, because it is misleading.
BelkinSE: Well we are extremely sorry for that information on the website
BelkinSE: But we will definitely take that in consideration and fix that issue on the website.
ME : Thank you for the information. Good bye.

Where are Berkeley’s gas pipelines? | Berkeleyside.

“Berkeleysider Alan Tobey uncovered the National Pipeline Mapping System, a government-run geographic information system created by the Department of Transportation, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and the Office of Pipeline Safety.”

East Bay Mini Maker Faire | Make • Create • Craft • Build • Play.

East Bay Mini Maker Faire:

When: October 24, 2010, 10 am to 5pm
Where: Park Day School, 370 43rd Street, Oakland, CA
Who: Makers, crafters, cooks, musicians, parents, and kids!

What and why: A Maker Faire is about celebrating learning and doing – not the finished and perfect end product. It’s a place to share what we’re learning with others, and celebrate the fun and freedom of being an amateur.

I picked up Vol 1, Issue 1 at my son’s Elementary School today. The editors say that full production will begin in October. The Times was about 20 pages, and covered many stories regarding Berkeley’s schools, high-school sports scene, local arts, and other community news. The tone was upbeat.

The Berkeley Times is available via subscription for $50 a year for 50 issues, and they hope to get at least 1000 subscribers to break even. It sounds like the Times will be available at local newsstands.

Berkeley previously had a free weekly newspaper called the Berkeley Daily Planet which recently stopped newspaper production and moved to be online-only. However I know many people who stopped reading the paper due to it’s one sided opinions on Berkeley urban development. The Berkeley Daily Planet purposely avoided covering any local school issues, which doesn’t make sense to a parent like me.

It would be nice to have a local newspaper again. Let’s hope that the Berkeley Times does well.

A tool to graphically explore your Gmail inbox

At Transit Distance, Harry provides several animations which show the distance and time taken to travel to different areas via public transportation and walking.

From his site:

“These animations of Portland, Oregon show the distance that can be traveled via public transit and walking. The dark gray border represents the maximum extent of travel given the time constraint indicated at the bottom of the frame. The shading within the boundary indicates the travel time. I assume a walking speed of 5 km/hr along roads and 3km/hr off-road.”

I'm supporting a proposal to create a new Q&A; website for expert and advanced users of web applications.

It's built on the same software as stackoverflow.com, a hugely popular site where over seven million programmers help each other with difficult programming problems. On Stack Overflow the audience votes for the best answer, so the answer you want is usually right at the top, not on page five.

I'm hoping that a site for expert and advanced users of web applications would have the same kind of network effect and turn into an amazing resource.

The proposal process is going on here:

http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/57/web-applications?referrer=MYmFCqj46gA1

If you're interested in participating, go to that URL and click on the green "Commit" button.

Thanks!