UCLA's Contribution to the Art of the Cinema

UCLA’s campus is often used for scenes in movies, TV shows, and commercials. Only one movie centers on UCLA and it has to be one of the worst movies ever made. But for your summer enjoyment, this blog makes it available. Much of it was filmed at UCLA with some scenes at LA City Hall, Westside Pavilion, the Natural History Museum and vicinity, and other parts of LA.

Big Man on Campus (1989)

In this version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", a hunchback is found living in the bell tower of UCLA. He is put on trial and made to go through tests. One of the research doctors falls for him, and he falls for her in the end.

Plot summary from IMBD:

A suspicious hunchback is spying through a scope on the UCLA campus from a tower which he makes his home out of, when his eye catches a beautiful girl. He lustfully keeps his eye on her until he sees her being violently pushed away while trying to stop a guy from beating up her boyfriend. This makes the hunchback mad and he makes himself known by swinging from a rope Tarzan style onto the campus and attacks the man who pushed the girl away. The hunchback is later taken into custody by campus officials and is later examined by the campus professors, Cathy, the beautiful girl, and Alex, her boyfriend. While on a ride back to the campus, the hunchback escapes the police car and is being chased by Alex, Cathy, and one of the professors riding along with them, Dr. Webster. He leads the trio to his tower and shows them the whole place. Dr. Webster then feels that it's best for him to stay there and he, along with Cathy, asks Alex to stay with the hunchback. After a long argument, Alex finally agrees and makes his home with the hunchback. The hunchback learns about life on Earth through Dr. Webster and another professor, Dr. Gerard. Alex and the hunchback, who later calls himself Bob Malooga-Looga-Looga-Looga-Looga, have their arguments and turmoil, especially over Cathy, but they later resolve their friendship when Bob gets a call about Cathy being in trouble and he goes to help Cathy, only to find it a hoax and he runs from the campus officials, who are trying to arrest him for breaking into the girl's dorm.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Deep Purple - Hallelujah

Sunday, time for a classic tune!

Deep Purple 2:nd lineup’s breakthrough wasn't as overnight as that of for the 1:st, but had a much more lasting impact when it came. Episode Six bandmates Ian Gillan and Roger Glover joined in secrecy. Gillan exemplified the kind of powerful and vocally agile singer that the band sought to develop their harder rock sound. Glover came along at first on a session basis, but quickly impressed with his natural grasp of writing, and was snapped up to complete the new Deep Purple.

The first ”Deep Purple” single from the 2:nd lineup or the 5th in order, 'Hallelujah', was very much as a first lineup throwback, and disappeared without trace (as had all Deep Purple's UK singles to that point). The line-up's first live gig was in front of a tiny audience at London's Speakeasy Club on July 10th. Inspired by their live chemistry, and with the quality of the music being written, the band gigged intensely in the UK and mainland Europe over the next 12 months, gaining an almighty live reputation. Their profile was also raised (if not in the way they all hoped for) by a performance of Jon Lord's rock / orchestral crossover 'Concerto For Group & Orchestra' at London's Albert Hall in September 1969, a piece that the rest of the band only came to appreciate in later years when it was no longer seen as a threat to their hard rock direction. A live album of the night was also their first top 30 UK chart entry, and the show was broadcast on BBC TV.

Here is a very early clip of the tune, enjoy!



More info @ Official Deep Purple Website


Listen to ”Deep Purple - Hallelujah" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!

More on Pension Initiatives: All Kinds of Clever Ideas Out There

Yesterday, this blog featured some developments that might impede public pension ballot initiatives getting on the ballot that could potentially override the Regents’ action last December revamping the UC pension system. It only costs $200 to file initiatives.

For that modest sum, the filer gets an analysis from the Attorney General (including summary description and title) and a fiscal analysis from the Legislative Analyst. Even initiatives that have a snowball’s chance in Hell get the same treatment – which clearly costs the state a lot more than $200.

Here is a summary of snowball-type pension initiative that someone thought was a real clever idea. It requires state pension funds (including UC) to invest 85% of their assets in California companies. The Legislative Analyst’s summary (excerpts) is below:

…Increases Required California Investments of Pension Systems. This measure amends the State Constitution to require public pension or retirement systems to "invest and maintain at least 85 percent of the system's assets" in California-based businesses. The measure defines a California-based business to be one "in which at least 70 percent of its employees are employed within California." Public pension or retirement systems would be required to comply with this new requirement beginning January 1, 2016.

…While the measure retains the Constitution's current prudent person rule language, it is unclear that the investment standards required under this measure would meet modern fiduciary standards of prudence. This is because the measure would require a huge concentration of investments in one economic market—California—that is responsible for only about 3 percent of world economic output…

Likely Decline in Average Annual Pension System Returns. If this measure were approved and implemented, it most likely would result in a decline in average annual investment returns for the state's public pension or retirement systems. In the short term, the systems could incur additional transaction costs to divest themselves of non-California assets, as required by this measure. Over the longer term, California's public pension systems would be forced to forego potentially profitable and sound investments in many non-California-based companies. Instead, they would be required to invest in California-based companies in which they do not now choose to invest. Overall, these investments potentially could result in lower average annual investment returns for the systems. Moreover, since activities of these businesses would tend to be concentrated in the California economic market, overall public pension investment returns probably would become more volatile, moving sharply upward or downward with trends in the California economy. As described above, changes in assumed public pension system investment returns would affect required employer contributions. The changes in public pension investment returns resulting from this measure would tend to increase required state and local pension contributions—potentially by billions of dollars (in current dollars) per year…

Full summary at http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2011/110493.pdf

The actual text of the initiative is at http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i951_11-0018_(investing_public_employees_retirement_in_california_businesses).pdf

Over the years, there have been lots of clever and innovative ideas floating around. Not all of them catch on, of course. It would be best if most of them went the way of the one below, gone and forgotten:

Pension Initiative Drive Might Become More Difficult

Earlier posts on this blog have pointed out that a pension initiative could appear on the California ballot that would override the changes made by the Regents last December in the UC pension plan. It was noted that initiatives – once qualified – go on the next statewide ballot.

For 2012, that might have been February when the state presidential primary was originally scheduled. The mix of voters in a February primary might have tilted toward passage of such an initiative. Now, however, the governor has signed a bill moving the presidential primary back to June when the regular primary for state races will also occur. The voter mix then will likely be less favorable to passage.

The governor has on his desk a bill that would ban per-signature piece rate payments to signature gatherers. They would have to paid on a time basis under the bill. Effectively, that would likely make signature gathering more costly since it is difficult to monitor gatherers to verify what their hours actually are. The piece rate system also provides gatherers with an incentive to get as many signatures as possible. So, if the governor signs the bill, that would likely impede initiatives from getting on the ballot on any subject.

Finally, a new radio ad has appeared that suggests that signing initiative petitions puts the signer at risk of identity theft. The ad seems to be aimed at impeding signature gathering for a “paycheck protection” initiative currently in circulation that would make it more difficult for unions to use dues money for political campaigns. However, the general message regarding ID theft could make voters more reluctant to sign any initiative. (The ad is general and does not focus on any specific initiative.)

You can hear the add by clicking on video below.

Crossfade - Killing Me Inside

I ran across :) a new band today, Crossfade!
Make me think of Nickelback at the beginning or mayby the Swedish Takida.
But somehow harder but with the same singing tune :)
Anyway the play sort of hard rock-alternative rock sorta.
Its an American band from South Carolina.
Crossfade was formed in 1999, originally under the name The Nothing.
In 2002, they changed their name to Crossfade.

This singel is taken from their 3rd album "We All Bleed".



The guys are:
Ed Sloan on lead vocals, guitar
Mitch James on bass, vocals
Les Hall on Lead guitar, keyboards, vocals
Mark Castillo on drums, goomba



They are out on a tour click here to see it.

Wanna know more about em plz click here to come to their homesite!

Enjoy folks!

Love, Thetania



Listen to ”Crossfade - Killing Me Inside" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!

Wolf - Skull Crusher

Wolf is a heavy metal band from Örebro, Sweden. Formed in 1995, the band has since released five albums and toured with Saxon, Tankard and more recently, Trivium.

Swordbrothers and Steelsisters, you perhaps already heard the sad news that Axeman left Wolf and Simon Johannsson (Memory Garden , Bibleblack) took over the 6 string axe for the upcoming festivals and the great tour with Firewind in September. So here’s your last chance to see Axeman in full action with WOLF! The official video for ”Skull Crusher” from the brand new album ”Legions Of Bastards” was produced by Morning Star Productions, also responsible for the video ”Hail Caesar” from the previous album ”Ravenous”.

Niklas Stålvind (vocals and guitars) in his own words: ”We have never had so much fun making a video as we had on this one. Smashing a car into smithereens is something we always wanted to do without cleaning up after us or get in trouble with the police. It was the best exercise/therapy you could ever wish for. I felt like I was 10 kilos lighter in both body and spirit afterwards. We had to work hard to demolish it good. A Volvo is made in Sweden and hard to tear apart - just like this Heavy Metal band. This one is for all the skull crushing metal heads out there - We salute you!”

And you can see a short introduction to Simon in this WOLF Bloodstock trailer:

Todays tune "Skull Crusher", Taken from the album "Legions Of Bastards".



So get your clogs and beer and jump on your tractor to see WOLF live on the upcoming shows. Or just die on your stinky sofa while the world rocks out with a **** out! METAL!

WOLF live at festivals 2011
12.08.2011 Catton Hall/Derbyshire, Bloodstock festival, UK
20.08.2011 Dinkelsbuehl, Summer Breeze Festival, Germany

WOLF supporting FIREWIND:
09.09.2011 Southampton, Talking Heads, UK
10.09.2011 Manchester, Moho Live, UK
11.09.2011 Glasgow, Apollo 23, UK
12.09.2011 Reading, Sub 89, UK
14.09.2011 Zoetermeer, Boerderij, Netherlands
15.09.2011 Den Bosch, W2, Netherlands
16.09.2011 Kerkrade, Rock Temple, Netherlands
17.09.2011 Vosselaar, Biebob, Belgium
18.09.2011 Cologne, Underground, Germany
19.09.2011 Aschaffenburg, Colos Saal, Germany
20.09.2011 Hamburg, Knust, Germany
22.09.2011 Vienna, Szene, Austria
23.09.2011 Brunico, UFO, Italy
24.09.2011 Pisa, Boderline, Italy
26.09.2011 Paris, Le Nouveau Casino, France

More info @
WOLF online:
Official Wolf Website
Official Wolf MySpace
Official Wolfy Facebook

Listen to ”Wolf - Skull Crusher" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!

Our Primary Concern

The Sacramento Bee today carries a story about the resetting of the date for the California presidential primary. It focuses on the arguments made when – last time there was a presidential election (2008) – California moved its presidential primary from June (when the primary for state offices is held) to February.

The idea was to be early in the presidential primary campaign season and thus have more influence on the outcome. You can read all about that idea – and whether it worked in practice - at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/29/3802418/california-set-to-move-its-presidential.html

Where this matters for UC is in the initiative process. As has been noted in prior blog posts, there may be public pension initiatives out there which could draw enough campaign funding to get the needed signatures and be on the ballot.

So the question then becomes when that balloting would take place and who will be voting. Once an initiative qualifies, it goes on the ballot of the next statewide election. Absent a change, that would be the February 2012 presidential primary. (Two initiatives, unrelated to pensions, have so far qualified: a tobacco tax for cancer research and a relaxation of term limits. There is also a proposition voted by the legislature – so not an “initiative” - dealing with rainy day funds and budgeting.)

Since Obama is sure to be the Democratic nominee, a February presidential primary would attract mainly Republican voters since there will be contending candidates. You can draw your own conclusions about what that voter mix might mean for a pension initiative that was also on that ballot and which could override the Regents’ decision on the UC pension of last December.

But it looks as if California is going to move its presidential primary back to June to coincide with the state-level primary. You would get a more balanced mix of voters under those circumstances. Of course, at this point no one knows what pension initiatives, if any, might end up on the ballot. And if the date is June, there would be more time for some group to pull together funding for a pension initiative. But on balance, from the UC perspective, June is likely to be better than February because of the voter mix.

Auditor Looks In: Now that the audit is out, a money-losing hotel would not be advisable

Undoubtedly, the headline on the audit report for UC released today will be the generalized call for more “transparency.” The report produced a nasty back and forth between UCOP and the State Auditor as to whether what the report found was significant or not with UCOP effectively suggesting that the audit was a waste of money. The audit was the product of a request by state senator Leland Yee – now running for mayor of San Francisco – who has made something of a career out of criticizing the university.

That being said, there is material in the report about “auxiliary enterprises” and whether they are subsidized or not. The specific cases raised are 1) use of student fees for the Pauley renovation at UCLA (and another building, see pp. 57-58 of the report; these are report pages, not pdf pages) and 2) a subsidy UC-Berkeley provided to its money-losing athletics program.

On a listing of the number of “funds” (accounts) for such enterprises and functions, UCLA has more of these accounts than other campuses and they are concentrated in housing, hotel, conference services, etc. (See page 54.) The auditor notes that UCOP’s position is the campus auxiliary enterprises are the responsibility of the campuses and that it does not get much involved in them. (p. 53)

In the back and forth sniping between UCOP and the auditor (which begins on p. 79), there is an interesting statement in the auditor’s reply (page 90, item marked “15”).

The auditor says that UCOP’s critique of the audit overstates its (the auditor’s) concerns about auxiliary enterprises, assuming that there are no plans within UC to provide subsidies to such enterprises more frequently than is now the case. The auditor assumes that the Berkeley case is a rare occurrence. It disagrees with UCLA as to whether the Pauley diversion was/is legit but, again, seems to assume that the Pauley situation was a unique event. It would be a Bad Thing for UCLA and UC if – following such an audit – it turned out that there were more money-losing enterprises in the works that would need some kind of subsidy or diversion.

All of which takes me to the hotel/conference center UCLA has planned to replace the Faculty Center. As has been pointed out by the Academic Senate Committee on Planning and Budget, the hotel’s business plan is a money loser. If we commit to a money-losing enterprise after the state auditor raises concerns about subsidizing such enterprises or diverting funds to them – but seems to have been assured that such decisions were rare anomalies that are not expected to happen in the future – we are asking for trouble.

So maybe we shouldn’t ask for it. You think?

You can read the state auditor’s report at http://bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2010-105.pdf

You can find a media account of the report at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/07/audit-says-university-of-california-should-be.html

Note: Ultimately, UCLA did not use the student fee for Pauley after complaints. But it defends its rights to have done so. See http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/audit-finds-ucla-misused-23-million-student-fees-11813

Metallica - Seek And Destroy

Im Angry today so Im gonna play something angry today so...
Im choosing Metallica "Seek and Destroy" from 1989 Seattle, comming from their first album ”Kill ´Em All" that is from 1983, and Cliff was the bas player on this.
At this time they were young and hansome :p

Jason Newsted was the bass player on this video.



After the tragical death of Cliff Burton in Ljungby Sweden.



Nowadays Rob Trujillo is playing bass and he do it damn good!!



Wanna know more plz click here to come to their homesite.

Im off guys and gurls Have fun!

Cheers, Thetania

No More Hired Guns?

Governor blasts California universities' hiring of pricey presidents:
Jerry Brown criticizes the trend of paying high salaries to 'hired guns' from out of state instead of seeking Californians who might take less

Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2011

Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday criticized leaders of California's public universities for recruiting highly paid "hired guns" from across the country to run campuses instead of looking for home-grown talent that might be willing to work for lower salaries. The governor said officials at California State University and the University of California appeared in recent salary decisions to have adopted a mindset that market forces trump public service, but he said that must change, especially as the state struggles to close a budget deficit that has forced severe cuts.

…The remarks were in response to the continuing public outcry over the decision by the Cal State Board of Trustees this month to approve an annual salary of $400,000 for Elliot Hirshman, the new president of San Diego State, at the same time the school increased annual student tuition by 12%.

…William G. Tierney, director of USC's Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, described as "flat-footed" the two university systems' recent decisions to raise tuition and the salaries of highly paid executives in the same board meetings. (UC leaders this month also approved a nearly 10% tuition hike for the fall, at the same time granting a large pay raise to the chief executive of UC San Francisco's medical center.) "But the real problem is that the governor's strategy with higher education is simply to give them less money, and I don't think the systems have been good with how to make strategic cuts," Tierney said. "The governor's letter … wins political points, but it doesn't solve the education problem."

Full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-calstate-salary-20110728,0,6185738.story

Your CV looks good but we can’t afford you:

Possible Pension Fix Coming from On High?

Could this be the ultimate deus ex machina to fix the UC pension’s unfunded liability?

Unseen comet's orbit indicates possible crash

David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle, July 28, 2011

A stream of dusty fragments from a comet born in the outermost reaches of the solar system has hit the Earth on a path that leads astronomers to conclude the comet itself could be "potentially hazardous" if it crashes into the planet.

The comet's location is unknown, making it difficult to say when it will approach Earth, but "the orbits of the dust trail tells us that the comet is on a path that could eventually hit us," said Peter Jenniskens, an astronomer at the SETI Institute and the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View…

"I couldn't believe my eyes at first," he said. But once he had had determined the identical orbits of the fragments he teamed with Finnish astronomer Esko Lyytinen to predict that the dust trail will return in 2016, again in 2023, and once again in 2076…

[Editor’s Note: 2016 would work best for the pension plan.]

Full article at http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/28/MNR21KFRTC.DTL

Let's ask the President (not Yudof - the other President):

Maintaining a Healthy Balance

UC has maintained a kind of cautionary balance for its health plans meant to smooth out sudden bumps in health care premiums. Since the state budget has squeezed the UC budget - including using UC as a loan department - the Regents approved various actions at their July meeting to try and deal with the cash crunch. Among these was tapping the health reserve.

As the letter below (a public document I have been assured) indicates, the systemwide University Committee on Faculty Welfare has expressed concern about completely depleting the fund.

Apparently, that is not the intention at this time, but the Regents action would allow it. Were the fund completely depleted, upward bumps in premiums would immediately have to be covered, potentially raising participant contributions suddenly and without the possibility of smoothing.

Below is the text of the letter:

July 25, 2011

NATHAN BROSTROM, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS OPERATIONS

RE: Regents Plan to Draw Down Health and Welfare Reserves

Dear Nathan,

The University Committee on Faculty Welfare (UCFW) received a presentation at its June 10, 2011,meeting by Provost Pitts and CFO Taylor on the subject “Revenue Bridging Strategies”. As background, a white paper on this subject dated June 2011 was shared with the committee members. One strategy listed was “Draw Down $50 million From Health & Welfare Reserves”. We further note that adoption of Regent Action Item F11 at the July 14, 2011, Regents meeting included an endorsement of the President’s plan to draw down “as needed” (emphasis added) from the University’s employee/retiree health and welfare reserves. The discussion associated with this action mentions that as much as $97 million could be drawn down from this fund source. We are concerned that a complete depletion of the employee/retiree health and welfare reserve may have significant negative impacts on employees and retirees if health care costs experience an unexpected and sudden increase. On July 22, 2011, Provost Pitts reassured members of UCFW’s Task Force on Investment and Retirement (TFIR) that the intent of the Office of the President is not to draw down more than $50 million from this fund source.

We strongly recommend that any action withdrawing more than the originally suggested amount of $50 million first be discussed with UCFW and other Senate committees involved in health and welfare benefits and budget planning. Thank you for your attention to our concern.

Sincerely,

Joel E. Dimsdale, UCFW Chair

Copy: UCFW
Larry Pitts, Provost
Peter Taylor, Chief Financial Officer
Dwaine Duckett, Vice President, Human Resources
Martha Winnacker, Executive Director, Academic Senate

Mastodon - Black Tongue

Atlanta-based metal band Mastodon released new song "Black Tongue". The track is taken from the band's upcoming album "The Hunter".

The album is the band's fifth album in order, this one was recorded in the Doppler Studios in Atlanta with producer Mike Elizondo, who previously produced Avenged Sevenfold hit album "Nightmare" from 2010.

The band have been performed at the Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, France, Sweden, Turkey, Finland, and Poland, as well as in Germany's Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park Festival during this summer. The show in Sweden was magnificent and i already looking forward for the next visit.
A full show would be brilliant to see and hear.

On June 28, 2011, Mastodon released an unreleased track from Crack the Skye called "Deathbound". It was released through Adultswim.com and had a music video made for it.

In July, the band's Youtube account debuted a 1-minute sample of another new song, entitled "Black Tongue”, this you can watch here, check below.

The artwork is made by AJ Fosik, a wood carver who is also responsible for the backdrop the band uses live. This marks a departure from Paul Romano, who did all their artwork to date.

On , a song from the album, titled "Black Tongue" was released - via iTunes, Spotify and Ovi Music.

Here is a “taste of what’s to come” with this trailer for “Black Tongue” off their upcoming album The Hunter, which is set for release in the end of September. Animation by Aaron Hymes.



Watch AJ Fosik's process when is making the sculpture from the cover of Mastodon's upcoming album "The Hunter.” All this is with the music of ”Black Tongue” witch was released on July 25 and is also valid thru the Spotify link below and of course it will be included in Tune Of The Days Spotify playlist, Enjoy!



More info @ Official Mastodon Website

Listen to ”Mastodon - Black Tongue" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!

Observation on a slow news day

Let's hope none of the 3,261 people received an MD from UCLA!

Big Business - The Drift

Big Business is a stoner metal/sludge metal band from Seattle. The band started as a two piece band composed of Jared Warren of Karp and The Tight Bros From Way Back When and Coady Willis of Murder City Devils. Their sound has been characterized as a bombastic and frantic low end attack, marked by Warren's signature vocal delivery.

The band released its first album, "Head for the Shallow", on January 25, 2005.
In late 2006, after relocating to Los Angeles, Jared and Coady both became members of The Melvins, first appearing on "(A) Senile Animal". The tour, titled "the Double-Drumming Rock for Peace tour", featured Warren and Willis playing a set as Big Business before being joined by Crover and Osborne for a set as the Melvins. While on tour, Big Business played with David Scott Stone who would later play guitar and Minimoog Voyager on all songs from their 2007 release "Here Come the Waterworks”. Big Business released their third album "Mind the Drift" on May 12, 2009. The album, produced by Phil Ek, who has produced both of their previous albums.

They will be touring Summer 2011 with Torche and Thrones.

Todays tune ”The Drift” is taken from the third studio album "Mind the Drift"

The video was created by Wesley Belak-Berger, Enjoy!



More info @ Official Big Business Website or at Big Business Myspace

No Spotify on this one :(

Could Washington Debt-Ceiling Impasse Adversely Affect UC?

The simple answer is - as someone said - you betcha! Chaotic financial conditions - if such occur - can damage the economy, e.g., 2008, and ultimately cut into state tax revenue. Drops in the value of financial assets hurts the pension fund (and the individual 403b and 457b accounts of UC employees) and other funds UC maintains.

Significant funding flows from the federal government to UC in the form of research contracts, Medicare payments, etc. Will that be interrupted? Who knows? This is one social science experiment we would do well not to undertake.

Bottom Line: There is no good news to be found here.

Yours truly does have a modest editorial suggestion for someone's consideration:

Higher Ed Dream Act (One of Them) Signed by Governor

Gov. Brown signed AB 130 by Assemblymember Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) – Student financial aid: eligibility: California Dream Act of 2011. The new law allows illegal alien children who have been raised in California to receive financial aid in public higher education institutions (UC, CSU, community colleges). However, the aid to which the law refers is private scholarship money.

The issue of such aid has arisen in the controversy over tuition increases at UC. Although the university provides assistance to lower-income students, it cannot do so with public monies including tuition money to illegal alien students. Protests over UC tuition increases have noted that these students are not protected by UC tuition assistance programs and so pay whatever increases occur.

A more far-reaching bill is still in the hopper that would allow Cal Grants and other public aid to go to such students. Brown indicated he would likely sign that bill when it arrives.

A bill signing ceremony can be found at:

Watch live streaming video from asmdc at livestream.com

Not Again! Another Pension Initiative Filed

Ted Costa of Peoples Advocate has submitted a ballot initiative on public pensions that explicitly includes UC. Peoples Advocate is the organization originally founded by Paul Gann of the Jarvis-Gann initiative known as Prop 13. You have probably heard of Prop 13. (Joke)

The organization by itself does not have funding for signature gathering. But it has a history of getting funding from others. Most notably, it kicked off the recall of Gray Davis. So I would take this initiative seriously. It has things like $100,000 caps on pensions, limits on cost of living adjustments, rules about funding, etc. It is quite complex and will take time to dissect.

The initiative is at:
http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i959_11-0026_%28pension_reform%29.pdf

It has typos, etc., so I expect it will be adjusted over time, particularly if money is found to gather signatures.

Here we go again:

UPDATE: A description of the initiative and a statement that a revised version will be filed is at http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/07/ready-for-calspers.html

Xie Tian Xiao - on the Gu Zheng

I wanted to tell you about the Chinese Company gig I did couple of days ago, as it was so weird and crazy compered to any of the gigs I ever done.
Here are some pics I took.

Lotsa Chineses and almost everyone had cameras videos u name it.

The sand artist in action.

Kinda blurry but thats my spot m8 Fredde.

The show stage.

This "gig" begun with a conference with a bunch of speakers that we got some spotlights on. Cheeeezuz they talked for hrs....the last speaker talked for 1 hr and 45 minutes, my arms and legs was screaming...hehe and he kept saying "nigga nigga" wonder wot that meant by in chinese. Then they had a musical show with a sand art guy, that was awesome!

There was many things that was so diffrent to ordinary music gig we are used to. For example in the middle of an artist singin, some of the audience came up the stage and gave him flowers, glas of whine or something and pointed to their spouse and grinned and the spouse took a picture of the artist and the person while the artist were singing....hahaha Soooo Odd! This happened troughout the whole show with diffrent artists..sooo weird.

And another thing that was sooo funny was, appearently somebody had its birthday if it was a person or the company I couldnt say, but they brought out this cake and had these "ice Lights" (its the kinda sparkeling small fireworks) and then suddenly 4 chineses tryed to blow it out...hahahah U cant blow it out..it stops when it stops hahaha so hilarious. The time schedule was extremly drawn over cos they talked so much gosh they talked and talked and we didnt understand nada.

Normally we get a time schedule with everything in the beginning and it goes on according to it, but 5 minutes b4 the start they brought us a new schedule with taken off songs and happenings so the programmed in lights were totally changed eeeh ehhh
Whatever I was happy to leave this arena after 2 days full of Chinese talking and...
sigh even if they were ehm one hr late, I had to run to my next gig which was great :D

As the music wasent that eh fitting according to my style Ill take a chinese rock band instead, kinda cool with the these instruments they have.



I choosed Xie Tian Xiao, Xie Tianxiao was born in 1972 in the town of Zibo, Shandong province. At the age of 9 he began to learn Beijing Opera, and appeared in the role of "The Monkey King" in a local operatic production of Journey to the West.

In 1997, he founded the band Cold Blooded Animal with bassist Li Ming, his childhood friend from Shandong. Although the band went through a number of personnel changes (past drummers include Liang Xu, Wu Rui and several others), they soon established a loyal fan base. On 1 October 2006 in Zeng Cheng near Guangzhou,this performance was applauded by the media and read as significant as Jimi Hendrix played the USA anthem at Woodstock in 1969. Xie admitted that his performance was inspired by Jimi Hendrixs’

Okey Have fun :D

Cheers, Thetania




Here is one more!

CalPERS May Contest San Jose's Way With Pension

As noted in prior posts, it seems clear that accumulated public pension rights of retirees and current workers cannot be voided or reduced. And it is also clear that new hires can be given lesser benefits than current workers or retirees. In the private sector, benefit formulas of current worker going forward can be made less generous. However, the degree to which that is possible in the public sector has been disputed. CalPERS takes the position that only new hires can have reduced benefits and formulas. But San Jose has a measure on the ballot that would change formulas for current workers (and new hires) going forward. It appears that CalPERS may oppose the measure in court even though San Jose is not part of CalPERS.

A legal test of the San Jose measure could indirectly affect UC should some group put an initiative on the state ballot that would override the Regents’ December 2010 changes in the UC pension system.

Will ballot measures test vested pension rights? (excerpts)

By Ed Mendel, calpensions.com, 7/25/11

…San Jose is one of a half dozen large cities in California that have their own retirement systems. But it seems likely that CalPERS would support a legal challenge to a precedent-setting change in vested rights. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s proposal, based on California court rulings, would use the declaration of a fiscal emergency to modify vested rights. (The CalPERS general counsel) said he is unaware of the emergency case law actually being used to modify public pensions. “That being said, I think this is going to be the battleground to watch…”

The office of state Attorney General Kamala Harris, asked by four legislators to review the San Jose emergency proposal, said in a preliminary response last month that the “unilateral impairment” of any contract “causes us deep concern.” … A spokeswoman for Mayor Reed said the city plans to meet with the attorney general’s office to explain its proposal…

Full article at http://calpensions.com/2011/07/25/will-ballot-measures-test-vested-pension-rights/

It does seem as if CalPERS is saying no way to San Jose:

Rooms at the Inns

UCLA (Covel on the first day) is the site of a conference sponsored by Governor Jerry Brown on "Local Renewable Energy Resources." You can find the agenda for the event at:

http://gov.ca.gov/s_energyconference.php

Now here is an interesting side note to the conference. Apparently, the participants and guests can be accommodated without a big hassle (and without a new on-campus hotel).

If you click on the website above, you will find the statement:

Hotel information: The nearby Luxe Hotel is providing rooms at a group rate. Call (800) 468-3541 and provide the group code UCLAGOV to book a room.

Below that, if you don't want to stay at the Luxe, you are told:

For other hotels in the area, check out http://www.travel.ucla.edu/new/HOTELS/LosAngele_Vicinity.shtml

If you click on that link, you will find a listing of area hotels with rates as low as $89. You can also find the cost of staying at the Luxe at the UCLA rate which turns out to start at $139 per night. Here is the listing if you don't want to bother to click:

Best Western Gateway Hotel Santa Monica UCLA rates start $84.00* Courtyard LAX, Century City and Beverly Hills UCLA rates start at $99.00 - 129.00* Crowne Plaza Beverly Hills UCLA rates start at $109.00 - $279.00* Doubletree Guest Suites Santa Monica UCLA special rates start at $179.00* Doubletree Los Angeles - Westwood UCLA rates start at $149.00 - $379.00* Hilton Los Angeles Airport UCLA rates start at $89.00 - $450.00* Holiday Inn Brentwood/Bel-Air UCLA special rates start at $109.00* Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard UCLA special rates start at $139.00* Oakwood UCLA rates start at $103.00* The Huntley Hotel UCLA special rates start at $189.00* Renaissance LAX UCLA special rates start at $125.00* Residence Inn Beverly Hills UCLA rates start at $110.00 - $249.00* Sheraton Santa Monica UCLA rate $159.00* The Los Angeles Athletic Club UCLA special rates start at $110.00* UCLA Guest House UCLA special rates start at $109.00* W Hotel Westwood UCLA special rates start at $199.00*

Oh. I noted above the location of the first day of the conference. Did I mention where the second day of this event will be held? It will be at the UCLA Faculty Center.

Bottom line: A major conference held at UCLA can be serviced by existing area hotels at room costs well below the room cost projections for the 280 room hotel/conference center UCLA proposed to replace the Faculty Center. And even in its current state - which clearly needs improvement - the Faculty Center can service the conference.

Fair To Midland - Musical Chairs

Today I was again on the move. This time it was south on the road in Sweden's oblong country, ahead highway E4 I went like a whirlwind, and to a little place called Brittebo located just outside of Jönköping. On the journey was the record player fed with Fair To Midland's new album "Arrows & Anchors," a wonderful mix of madness, but more about that on another occasion.

"Arrows & Anchors" is the fourth studio album by Texas progressive rock band Fair to Midland. The album was released on July 12th via Season of Mist. The album was produced, recorded and mixed by Joe Barresi.

Todays tune "Musical Chairs” is the album's first single, enjoy!



More info @ Official Fair To Midland Website

Listen to ”Fair To Midland - Musical Chairs" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!