Year: 2012

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    UCLA Forecasting

    Byuclafaculty

    This 1966 photo from the LAPL collection shows a local effort at forest fire prevention by getting weather forecasts through a new “weather-fax” machine. The individual in the photo is identified as Bob Helfman, 28, a UCLA graduate in meteorology. [Note: Did you think the word “fax” (for facsimile) was a more recent invention?] There will be forecasting at UCLA this coming week using more modern technology.  The UCLA Anderson Forecast conference will be held on campus on Wednesday, December 5. Info on that event is at:http://www.uclaforecast.com/event/eventDisplay.asp?iEventID=69 Meanwhile, as far as the kind of forecast for the next few days…

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    More on the Stream

    Byuclafaculty

    The Daily Bruin today has a report that UCLA got another favorable decision regarding the use of live-streaming videos for course purposes. Live-streaming means essentially what you see on websites such as YouTube, i.e., a video (or audio) that you click on and it plays from the web.  The video is not a file that is stored on your computer.  The analogy would be that watching a TV broadcast is similar to live-streaming.  Owning a DVD and playing it on your TV is like having a stored file that you play. Background: There was a prior case in which the…

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    UCLA Tells Grad Students to Stick Around

    Byuclafaculty

    Today’s Daily Bruin reports that a tightening in the rules on grad students taking leaves of absence (and thus not paying tuition) is meeting protests from those students: Graduate students discussed multiple ways to take action against recent changes to UCLA’s leave of absence policy at a town hall meeting Wednesday afternoon. This quarter, UCLA stopped accepting thesis or dissertation writing as valid reasons for taking time off to help graduate students complete their degree paths on time, said April de Stefano, director of academic services in the UCLA Graduate Division… The change was applied with the intent of encouraging…

  • Our Advice: Delete

    Byuclafaculty

    You may have gotten the email above which suggests the website is somehow linked to UCLA or the UCLA medical enterprise.  It actually comes from a Brazilian who probably wants to sell you something or worse.  See below: I suggest you leave Luis to his own devices.  And if you need more from Brazil:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf94Tt2cO0A?feature=player_detailpage]

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    Whatever happened to grade inflation?

    Byuclafaculty

    From the LA Times today: UCLA Medical Center gets failing grade on patient safety: Leapfrog, a healthcare quality rating group, gives an F to UCLA Medical Center for performing poorly on several measures. UCLA officials dispute the failing grade. A national report card on patient safety gave a failing grade to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, one of the country’s most prestigious hospitals and one of only 25 nationwide to receive such low marks. In a report issued Wednesday, the Leapfrog Group, an employer-backed nonprofit group focused on healthcare quality, gave a letter grade of F to UCLA Medical Center…

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    Listen to Regents Meeting of Nov. 15, 2012

    Byuclafaculty

    Now that the audio file has arrived, we are catching up with the parts of the mid-November Regents meeting not previously posted (not to be confused with the special meeting held yesterday).  Below is a link to the final day of the mid-November meeting. During the public comment period, there were complaints about tuition increases and budget cuts.  There was more about the swap deals – see earlier posts on this matter – in which UC swapped a variable interest rate for a fixed one.  As it turned out, interest rates fell so that the “insurance” against a rise in…

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    More traffic woes tonight

    Byuclafaculty

    If traffic were not bad enough near UCLA given the problems on Sepulveda Boulevard this week (see our earlier posting), now comes this: The Sunset bridge will be closed tonight 10 pm until 6 am tomorrow.  (It also happened last night but yours truly did not get the word until this morning.) While you are stuck, you can think about happier traffic days:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77NxU0CHPw?feature=player_detailpage] 

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    Follow-Up on Today’s Special Regents Meeting

    Byuclafaculty

      We noted yesterday that there would be a special Regents meeting today to approve pay packages for the new chancellor of Berkeley and the new acting chancellor at Riverside. Also noted was the fact that yours truly could not record the live-stream of the meeting and so the posting of the audio would have to await our usual public documents request.  However, I am told there were three votes against the Berkeley salary of $486,800: the governor, the lieutenant governor, and Regent Zettel.  We will post updates.  And we again ask why the Regents’ office, since it has recordings…

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    The Westwood Tree Issue Continues

    Byuclafaculty

    We have previously noted the issue surrounding the proposed removal of certain trees from Westwood near UCLA.  From the Westwood-Century City Patch today: Days after the city OK’d the Westwood Village Improvement Association’s request to remove 18 trees in the area, the Westwood Community Council urged the preservation of as many trees as possible.  The council last week passed a resolution to support the preservation of mature Westwood Village trees and called on the Westwood Business Improvement District, managed by the WVIA, to save as many trees as possible as it embarks on a sidewalk repair and replacement project… Full…

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    Social Security Estimator Available

    Byuclafaculty

    Faculty who are getting up there in years may find it useful to estimate what they will receive in Social Security from the website above at http://www.ssa.gov/estimator/.  Note that some old timers opted out of Social Security when the Regents joined the federal system and that the website will not be applicable for them. You can receive Social Security starting at age 62.  If you wait, your benefits will increase.  (But – and we hate to remind you of this existential fact – the fewer months you will have to receive those benefits.) And a little music while you work…