Author: admin

  • Phishing Warning for Gmail Users

    Byadmin

    In the past, I have confined email fraud warnings to those specifically targeting UCLA email system users.  However, many faculty either have supplementary gmail accounts or forward their UCLA mail to a gmail account.  If you have gmail, you may get a message that looks like the image above and appears to come from someone you know with a gmail account.  It may refer to a service called Infoaxe or Flipora or something else.  Do not click on it or forward it to anyone else.  If you do click on it, it will steal all your email contacts and send…

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    Chained-CPI

    Byadmin

    Chained Houdini You have probably heard or read about the “chained-CPI” (CPI = Consumer Price Index) proposal for Social Security contained in President Obama’s latest budget plan.  Chained-CPI is supposed to take account of the “substitution effect,” i.e., the tendency of consumers to shift their purchasing habits away from goods that rise relative to others in price.  The official CPI which is now used for indexing Social Security and other federal programs – and is also used for the partial inflation adjustment in the UC pension – is often described as pricing a fixed basket of goods.  In actuality, the…

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    California Oil Tax?

    Byadmin

    Signal Hill Oil Field, probably 1940s There is currently an initiative for which in theory signatures are being gathered that would gasoline and other fuel to fund a cap on tuition.  I could go into the details but this is one of the many initiatives that are filed without any funding to pay signature gatherers or run a campaign.  It will go nowhere.  Signatures are actually due tomorrow.  There is a link to it below for those who are curious. However, the same wealthy individual who successfully pushed through Prop 39 last year is now pushing the legislature to use…

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    Could Hammer Fill Westwood’s Empty Stores?

    Byadmin

    UCLA’s Hammer Museum is proposing to put various art projects in vacant Westwood stores.  According to the Museum, local landlords have agreed to the idea at free or minimal rents.  The Museum is asking the public to “vote” for the concept – Arts ReSTORE LA: Westwood – on a website that might draw financial support from a private foundation. The website and proposal is at: http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/Hammer_Museum?sort=290 A video on the project can be see below:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30f36j_o_wU?feature=player_detailpage] A Daily Bruin article about this proposal is at:http://dailybruin.com/2013/04/12/hammer-museum-with-the-help-of-artists-community-hope-to-restore-westwood/

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    Completed

    Byadmin

    According to the Westwood-Century City Patch, the tree removals and sidewalk repairs on various Westwood streets around UCLA are now completed:http://centurycity.patch.com/articles/sections-of-damaged-sidewalk-repaired-in-westwood-village-photos#photo-13976670 It’s not clear from the article whether the replacement trees have been planted.

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    Blocked

    Byadmin

    From the Westwood-Century City Patch: Starting Friday night, a mile-long section of the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway will be closed in West Los Angeles overnight this weekend to accommodate work needed to widen the freeway, a Metro spokesman said. Northbound lanes will be closed from the Santa Monica (10) Freeway to the Olympic Boulevard exit starting about 11 p.m. and reopened about 6 a.m., according to Metro, which is managing the project aimed at adding a northbound carpool lane. On Saturday, crews will start closing lanes about the same time as Friday, but the freeway will reopen about 7…

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    Not off to a good start

    Byadmin

    Looks like our new basketball coach should be having some of this formula for breakfast. From the Westwood-Century City Patch today: UCLA Coach Apologizes for Sex Assault Case Comments at Iowa New UCLA head basketball coach Steve Alford apologized Thursday for repeatedly defending one of his players at the University of Iowa in 2002 when the sophomore star was arrested and charged with sexual assault. Alford, as coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes team, made repeated public statements insisting that Pierre Pierce was innocent of the accusation. Pierce eventually pleaded to a reduced charge in a plea deal that a prosecutor on the case said was…

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    Leading by Example: But Leading to What?

    Byadmin

    From Inside Higher Ed today: Florida lawmakers advanced a bill this week intended to upend the American college accreditation system. The measure would allow Florida officials to accredit individual courses on their own — including classes offered by unaccredited for-profit providers… The Florida plan is similar to a high-profile California bill. Both would force public colleges and universities under some circumstances to award credit for work done by students in online programs unaffiliated with their colleges… “Now you see the nation being squeezed by California and now in Florida,” said Dean Florez, a former California state senator who leads the Twenty Million Minds…

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    Windfall $4+ billion in state receipts remains in state treasury through March

    Byadmin

    We have noted that over $4 billion beyond the governor’s budget estimates for the current fiscal year began showing up in the state treasury at around the time of the congressional fiscal cliff, etc., decision.  It appeared to come from upped withholding of state income taxes, perhaps from individuals taking capital gains at the end of 2012 to avoid possible tax hikes thereafter.  No one seems to know for sure but once the money arrived, it stayed, i.e., it didn’t seem to be some fluke of timing that subsequently reversed.  The latest state controller’s cash statement continues to show no…