A previous Davisite article announced Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman's Exhibit “Anima Mundi,” a Solo Show Featuring Limited Edition Prints. The exhibit is open through the end of March.
Visitors appreciating Sullivan-Beeman's art:
Author: Roberta Millstein
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On Open Access and the UC severing its relationship with the publisher Elsevier
The University of California recently announced that it was terminating its relationship with the publisher Elsevier because Elsevier would not meet its terms for open access. According to the UCSF library, Elsevier publishes the highest number of peer-reviewed journals worldwide and is the largest publisher of UC-authored journal articles. Thus, UC’s termination of its relationship with Elsevier is a dramatic step that may end up having equally dramatic, and hopefully positive, effects on journal publishing, paving the way for more open access.But what is open access, and why is the UC’s decision important? As a 20+ year academic and a co-editor of an open access journal, Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology, I thought I’d give an explanation geared toward the layperson to help provide some context for this decision.
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Parking proposal not ready for prime-time: unanswered questions
The following was sent to the Davis City Council on 6 March 2019.Dear City Council members,
I did not attend last night's meeting, in part because of personal commitments but also because I don't have strong views on parking. And I have to admit that I haven't followed all of the details. So, maybe I am missing something, but I find myself extremely puzzled with the proposal and have some questions that I hope get addressed when the Council takes this up again.
First of all, I understand that a big motivation is to try to get employees and students out of prime parking spots. It seems like the current proposal is a very indirect way of doing that, a way that may or may not succeed. Just considering students, I don't know if people think that students are on campus 9-5, but they are not. They are on campus only as long as they need to be to take their classes and that is often for 5 hours or less. Students will probably be thrilled to be able to park for a 5 hour block at a cheaper rate than the university is offering. Has anyone actually studied student habits? If not, you're just making proposals in the dark, hunt-and-peck, trial-and-error, which seems like not the right way to go about it. Maybe if the Council were considering the task force recommendation to have adjustable rates based on real-time availability, things might sort themselves out, but otherwise I foresee problems.
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Why we need a Green New Deal and Why Garamendi and Feinstein should cosponsor it
Paradise on fireI just dug up my lecture notes from a class on “Science, Technology, and Values” from Spring 1998, my first year of teaching, more than 20 years ago. At that time, the Sierra Club warned that global warming would lead to heat waves, disease, vanishing habitat, and extreme weather. They urged:
- The Clinton administration should be negotiating a strong, enforceable and legally binding global warming treaty that protects our children's future by cutting global warming pollution 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2005.
- The president should raise miles-per-gallon (CAFE) standards to from 27.5 mpg to 45 mpg for cars and from 20.7 mpg to 34 mpg for light trucks, as the majority of the commission he appointed recommended.
- Increase research and investment into clean car technology like hydrogen fuel cells and improved batteries.
- Cut subsidies for oil and coal development. Increase funding for clean, renewable energy like wind and solar power.
- Raise energy efficiency standards for home appliances and electronics. Create incentives for homeowners and businesses to become more efficient.
- Require that any energy industry restructuring encourage energy efficiency and the use of clean, renewable technology, and that dirty, coal-fired power plants switch to cleaner natural gas.
Of the above recommendations, either they have not been done or they were done insufficiently.
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Requesting investigation into WDAAC and Yes on L allegations
The following was emailed to CityCouncilMembers@cityofdavis.org this morningDear Members of the Davis City Council,
I am writing to request formally that the Davis City Council send a letter to the Yolo County District Attorney and California Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC) requesting investigations into the allegations against the West Davis Active Adult Community (WDAAC) and the Yes on L campaign, as described in the following article by Alan Pryor:
(Or please click here if that link wraps).
Specifically, the article alleges:
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UC Davis study shows grain-free and other “boutique” diets associated with heart disease in dogs
One of the benefits of living in Davis is having a world-class veterinary research center right down the road, one that produces research like the work highlighted in the article “Dogs Fed Some Popular Diets Could Be at Risk of Heart Disease.” Yet the more that I learn about this research, the more I realize how resistant people are to the message.The rough idea is this: researchers have found a relatively recent increase in the number of dogs diagnosed with Taurine-Deficient Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). DCM is a disease of the heart muscle that leads to reduced heart pumping function and increased heart size, and it can result in severe consequences such as congestive heart failure or sudden cardiac death. Researchers are still trying to isolate the exact cause, but it has been associated with grain-free diets, raw diets, and foods that contain exotic ingredients like peas and lentils. It is not yet known why these foods would lead to low taurine and DCM, but adding taurine (an amino acid) to the dog’s diet does not seem to help. (More details here).
So, the cautious approach would seem to be to avoid feeding dogs these boutique and grain-free foods until researchers figure things out further. What should dogs eat, then? A Facebook group which is facilitating the gathering of data and exchange of information among researchers is currently recommending Purina Pro Plan, Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, Eukanuba, and Iams.
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College classes taught by TAs? Enterprise columnist misses the mark
I normally find that Jennifer Borenstein offers excellent college advice in her “College Corner” column in the Davis Enterprise. Unfortunately, however, her most recent column is misleading, both in its use of terms and in the elephant in the room that it leaves out.First, do TAs teach college classes? Occasionally, but not in the way that Borenstein means.
To be (perhaps excessively) clear, a graduate student is a person who is pursuing a degree beyond the undergraduate (BA, BS) level. Once someone is a graduate student, they might be a teaching assistant, or TA. Or, they might be assigned to be a primary instructor for a class (sometimes with graduate student TAs!). Or, they might not teach at all. Thus, in the usual case, it doesn’t make sense to say that a TA is teaching a class. If a graduate student is hired as a primary instructor for a class, they are not a TA. They are the primary instructor.
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Thinking about the Thin Blue Line imagery
I had originally intended my previous post, “Processing the events surrounding the tragic killing of Officer Corona,” to be my only published thoughts on the subject. But recent discussion of the Thin Blue Line imagery on social media and in a recent Enterprise article have convinced me that more needs to be said, if only to try to help people to see what the concerns are, even if they ultimately still disagree with those concerns.But before doing that, let me again reiterate, because it’s important, my deepest condolences for the family, friends, and colleagues of Officer Natalie Corona as well as my thanks for all the public safety professionals who risked their lives to keep everyone else safe on the tragic night that she was killed.
As is pretty widely known by now, some UCD students and others have objected to the Thin Blue Line imagery, both in the American flag and in the Davis Police Badge. They equate the imagery not only with the Blue Lives Matter movement, which they see as deeply problematic, but also with white supremacism. Again, this article in The Public, dated June 26, 2018, sums up the association better than I can, and also shows that this isn’t something that local activists made up.
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Processing the events surrounding the tragic killing of Officer Corona
From the SacBeeThe events of the last few days have been difficult and emotional ones, with news coming at us at a fast pace as the story has unfolded, with more surely to come. It’s hard to process, hard to know how to think about.
First and foremost, I want to express my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Officer Natalie Corona. By all accounts, she was a kind person who was dedicated to serving her community. Her senseless and tragic death is a reminder that even in seemingly mundane situations, a police officer is always putting their life on the line, a target for those who have a grudge against the police (if that is indeed what has happened here, as suggested by the letter from the shooter). We all need to be grateful for those who are willing to serve on a police force. (Full disclosure: my grandfather was a NYC street cop).
It is understandable that so much of our focus would be on the loss and sacrifice of Officer Corona. But I want to highlight something else we’ve heard a lot less about: the officers who were working the night of her death. They surrounded the house where the shooter lived for hours. According to the accounts I’ve read, the shooter emerged from the house twice, at least once with a gun. That could have gone very badly for the police. The situation was unpredictable and the lives of those police officers were under a direct threat.
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Vote for your delegates to the CA Democratic Party: Check out Workers & Students for AD4
On Sunday, January 13 from 10 AM-12:30 PM at Davis Veterans Memorial, you have the opportunity to vote for Assembly District 4 Delegates for the CA Democratic Party. To vote, you just need to be a registered Democrat and live in the region pictured at the left. (Dates and locations to vote in other regions varies; see this page for details).Wondering what an Assembly District Delegate for the CA Democratic party does? According to the CA Dem website we are electing:
Davisite 