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Name the Bird

After Grinnell, a locally famous peregrine falcon, tragically died in a collision with an automobile, his equally famous mate, Annie, found a new feathered suitor to help her care for a collection of eggs in her nest atop UC Berkeley's Campanile.

The new bird on the block was dubbed "the New Guy." Recently, a bird-ogling consortium called Cal Falcons staged a contest to officially name Annie's new nest-mate. The winning name is set to be announced soon. The final picks include: 

Ned, for Ned Johnson, a world-renowned Berkeley ornithologist and professor of integrative biology. 

Morgan, for UC alumna Julia Morgan, the pioneering female architect who designed more than 700 buildings—including UC's Hearst Gymnasium (now threatened with demolition).  

Lou, for Louise Kellogg, a Berkeley alumna and longtime partner of explorer and naturalist Annie Alexander, founder of the UC Museum of Paleontology and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. 

Ed, for Ed Roberts, the unstoppable, wheelchair-ambulating Berkeley alumnus who lead the disability rights movement on campus and nationwide. 

Savio, for Mario Savio, the galvanizing UC student who became the voice of the 1964 Free Speech Movement. 

Calvin, for Melvin Calvin, a Berkeley chemistry professor who won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 

Archie, for Archie Williams, a Berkeley alumnus who won gold in the 400-meter run at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He was a flying instructor at the Tuskegee Army Flying School and an Air Force combat pilot during World War II and the Korean War. 

Takaki, for Ronald Takaki, a UCB grad who became a Berkeley ethnic studies professor and established the nation’s first Ph.D. program in ethnic studies. 

Alden, for Alden Miller, a Berkeley alumnus who succeeded Joseph Grinnell (the deceased falcon's namesake) as director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. (This was the winner.) 

As a veteran of the FSM, I received notice of this contest from other FSMers—along with an urgent, partisan request: "Hey everyone. Vote for Savio! Pass it around!"  

I signed on for "Savio"—but emailed that I would have preferred dubbing the new guy, "Mario." 

One prominent FSM vet concurred: "I agree," she wrote, "but I wasn’t consulted…. I suspect Takaki will win; it’s a funnier name." 

Speaking of Free Speech: Putin Prohibits "Two Words" 

The Canadian anti-war group, Project Save the World, not only publishes Peace Magazine, it also hosts "Global Town Halls" —video conversations about current affairs. A recent episode featured Andre Kamenshikov, a Russian-American living in Kiev, Ukraine. Also featured was Alexey Prokhorenko, who lives in Moscow. Prokhorenko revealed that, while his hardships are minor compare to folks in Ukraine, Russian citizens are scrambling to gather stockpiles of "buckwheat and other staples." Another stressor, Prokhorenko noted, was the arrest of some 10,000 fellow Russians who dared to demonstrate against Putin's war and now face jail terms of 15 years. In Russia, you are no longer free to shout (or even hold a sign with the words) "No War!" Some protesters who responded to the censorship by holding up signs simply reading "Two Words" have also been arrested and jailed. Here's a link to the video of the conversation with Prokhorenko and Kamenshikov. 

A Taxing Time 

Public Citizen is outraged that (1) "this year’s Pentagon budget is $782 billion, (2) "President Biden just requested an additional $31 billion for next year," (3) "some members of Congress are pressing for even more" and (4) "Meanwhile, we’re constantly getting told we can’t afford investments that would actually improve life for ordinary people." This list would include: (1) Medicare for All. (2) A Green New Deal. (3) Help for the homeless. (4) Universal childcare. (5) Free community college. (6) Raising the minimum wage. (7) More money to fight COVID-19. 

PC concludes: "It feels like Congress cares more about their buddies working for the military-industrial complex than they do about people like us." 

If your fists are clenched in frustration, relax and point just one of your fingers in the direction of the following link: Email your members of Congress. 

Karmic Strips 

Pearls Before Swine, a syndicated comic strip created by lawyer-turned-cartoonist Stephan Pastis, appears daily in the San Francisco Chronicle. Pearls features an anti-social character name Rat (who is a rodent) and a mellow under-achiever named Pig. 

Pastis frequently uses the longer Sunday strips to set up excruciating puns, built on what's been said in the previous boxes. 

A while back, I sent Pastis a proposed script for a Sunday punathon and he responded with a kind note. 

So here's the set up: In the first box, Pig declares he's going to get more exercise — with the aid of a Swedish Laplander named Sami, who happens to be a runner. 

Pig explains that Sami has offered to put Pig in a pouch strapped around his waist so Pig can enjoy running around the local track without over-stressing himself. In the next-to-last box, Pig returns, looking rumpled and dirty. Rat asks what happened. Turn's out, Sami's body couldn't handle Pig's extra weight. 

Or, as Pig explained in the final panel: "My Lap's lap collapsed before my laps elapsed." 

NBC Says "No Can See" 

In what may be a first, YouTube has censored the posting of a national TV network newscast. The April 14 broadcast of NBC Nightly News remains blocked by an alert that reads: "The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised." 

After clicking to gain access, it became clear that this particular broadcast was blocked because it contained surveillance footage that showed a white Michigan police officer stop, confront, grab, manhandle, tase, and murder an unarmed black motorist. 

While anchor Lester Holt warned that "the video is disturbing," the video was frozen the moment before Patrick Lyoya was pinned to the ground and shot in the back of the head. (In a gratuitous act of "half-censorship," NBC's editors stopped the film but continued to broadcast the soundtrack of the fatal round being fired—by an officer whose identity was being concealed.) 

A question: Since the actual moment of death was not shown, why was the video deemed not suitable for broadcast? The lesson: Regardless of the confrontation's tragic end, simply showing a white officer abusing his authority now apparently qualifies as "inappropriate" for public viewing. 

Blockade Lockheed's Warhawk Blockheads 

If you don't like war, you can't like Lockheed Martin. LM is the world's largest arms maker and war profiteer. As the Global Mobilization to #StopLockheedMartin notes: "From Ukraine to Yemen, from Palestine to Colombia, from Somalia to Syria, from Afghanistan to Ethiopia, no one profits more from war and bloodshed than Lockheed Martin." 

The Mobilization is staging a week of global protests starting on April 21 (the day that Lockheed Martin holds its Annual General Meeting in Maryland) and running through April 28. 

On April 15, a half-dozen local peace groups (including CodePink, Pacific Life Community, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, Environmentalists Against War, and the Raging Grannies) got a jump on the global gatherings when they marched a mile to Lockheed's Palo Alto offices and presented a World BEYOND War (WBW) petition to Lockheed officials. The petition read:
By far, the world's biggest weapons dealer, Lockheed Martin brags about arming over 50 countries. These include many of the most oppressive governments and dictatorships around the world. Lockheed Martin is also involved in the production of nuclear weapons, as well as being the producer of the horrific and disastrous F-35, and the THAAD missile systems used to escalate tensions around the globe. Apart from the crimes its products are manufactured for, Lockheed Martin is frequently found guilty of fraud and other misconduct. 

Therefore, we urge Lockheed Martin to immediately initiate a plan for conversion from weapons manufacture to peaceful industries with a just transition for arms industry workers that secures the livelihoods of workers and includes the participation of unions.
You can click here to sign on. 

WBW Executive Director David Swanson adds this footnote: 

"The risk of nuclear apocalypse is very high. There’s nothing more important than avoiding destroying all life on earth. We can’t picture a planet devoid of life and happily think 'Well, at least we stood up to Putin' or 'Well, at least we stood up to NATO' .... Quite apart from where this war goes or where it came from, the US and Russia should be talking right now about taking nuclear weapons out of the calculations, disarming, and dismantling them, as well as protecting nuclear power plants." 

Mixed Media for a More Peaceful World 

World BEYOND War, a global grassroots network advocating for the abolition of war, just published its Annual Report for 2021. The 34-page overview kicks off with something I've never encountered before. On the Table of Contents page, readers are invited to click on a nearby photo that links to a two-minute "highlights reel" video. 

"Wondering what we’ve been up to in 2021?" the video's YouTube page reads: "Here’s our top 10 victories and highlights of the year." 

And, speaking of videos: WBW has just posted its first music video: "Not to War" by Blaze Weka. 

(Full disclosure: I currently serve on the WBW Board.) 

The Fine Art of Consumer Manipulation 

Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is a master of over-the-top tricks to encourage people to spend loose change on an endless parade of loony kitsch. There are the blandishments: "You will be the only person who could win the doubled $10,000 A Week For Life prize." And there are the threats: "Don't risk someone else from Berkeley winning… with your SuperPrize Number!!" 

There are the competitive nudges, including a printout with two street maps—one showing the location of my PO Box in downtown Berkeley and one showing my nearest competitor, identified as "M.W.", located near the Oakland Coliseum DMV office. 

The boosts take a turn towards paranoia when PCH's pitch declares: "Someone who lives near you wants your Prize Number and is hoping you don't respond!!" The main goal is to prompt the reader to place an order. Each mailing contains a line of legalese that states "Placing an order will not increase your chances of winning" but accompanying fliers include good-cop-bad-cop lines like "You're such a loyal friend…" and "We hope you'll change your mind…." 

And if you don't place an order, watch out for grim threats like these: "Your status is in danger of being declared inactive. Won't you please try something this time?" and "Failure to order from this bulletin will result in forfeiture of our highest level of rewards for any product you may order." 

Meanwhile, to keep the loot-lust alive, the other side of the same sheet that makes that threat offers "Immediate transfer of money" ("$5,000 a week for life plus $1 million at once and a Ford Explorer!") and salutes moi as "a VIP Elite entrant" who has "reached our highest level of entry recognition!" 

But PCH's "tough-love" approach ended with a doom-drenched note that I'd better go online and enter a special "Activation Code" or prepare to face the "risk of automatic consequences." 

Save Your Leaves! 

Winds have been blowing these past months and that means lotsa leaves on the ground. But don't curse the clean-up, let's celebrate the cure—as proposed by some urban farmsteaders in Penn State. 

Germantown Kitchen Garden ("our little farm in Philadelphia") looks at leftover leaves as a gardener's treasure and recently posted a public notice that they are "seeking your leaves for our beds and compost piles!" noting that "leaf litter is one of the best soil amendments and mulch that there is, and we never have enough."  

GKG's members are in love with leaves. GKG's younger farmers are even known to celebrate leaf-time with this chant: 

Winter winds blow all around / The leaves begin to fall.
And Cindy, with a leap and bound / Tries hard to catch them all. 

According to GKG's PR person, Amanda: "I encourage all of you to leave your leaves, mow them or shred them and use them as the perfectly nutritious thermal blanket that they are, but, if you do not wish to do this, then please consider dropping your raked leaves off at the farm. You can drop them right over the big farm stand gate and I will come and grab them daily." 

But first, "some very important caveats":
• Only yard leaves—we cannot accept leaves raked from the street and sidewalk. Put those on your ornamental beds, or leave them for the city to pick up.
• We cannot accept leaves from lawns treated with herbicide or insecticide.
• Leaves must be as free as possible of sticks and brush. I understand little twigs just get in there, but please don't rake up a whole brush pile and put it into a bag and give it to me. I'll be so sad.
• Leaves must be bagged. They don't have to be brown paper lawn bags, but they have to be bags.
• Finally, if you feel weird driving up to the garden gate and dumping a bunch of trash over it, give me a call first to see if I'm home and I'll meet you. 

Thank you for your help — next year's garlic thanks you!