A Sampling of Clips for January 28^th, 2008

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

Emergency Rate Cut Revives Talk of "Bernanke Put"
The New York Times, Jan. 27 -- An emergency U.S. interest rate cut last week rekindled perceptions the Federal Reserve has a bias to protect the stock market, and a French bank trading scandal has made matters worse. (Quotes James Hamilton, professor of economics at UCSD) More

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Half-Million Chinese Stranded by Blizzards
CBS News, Jan. 27 -- A new round of blizzards threatened Chinese provinces Monday that were trying to dig out from snow and ice storms that have stranded hundreds of thousands of people during the nation's busiest holiday travel season. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Susan Shirk) More

Cheap Shots, but Valuable?
Newsweek, Jan. 26 -- To find the deck so suddenly stacked against Barack Obama seems unfair, yet it is a tribute of sorts to Hillary Clinton and the way she picked herself up after losing Iowa. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Sam Popkin) More

Arthur Silvers, 77; Architect Fought Racial Discrimination
Los Angeles Times, Jan. 26 -- Arthur Silvers, an architect who designed structures throughout California and also worked to end discrimination in housing and employment, died Jan. 18 of pulmonary fibrosis at a hospital in Santa Monica, according to his son John. He was 77. He worked on several buildings of what is now the Thurgood Marshall College at UCSD. More

A Scientist Outside the Mold
Baltimore Sun, Jan. 26 -- Yesterday's announcement that J. Craig Venter, 61, a UCSD alumnus, had reached a major benchmark in the quest to synthesize artificial life came as little surprise to those familiar with his work. More

Join the Navy, Kill Some Whales
Wired, Jan. 24 -- With the official all-clear from President Bush, the U.S. Navy began underwater sonar training off the San Diego coast this week, despite its own estimates showing that hundreds or thousands of whales will be harmed by the high-frequency pings being pumped into the Pacific.  (Quotes Professor John Hildebrand, of the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

Chávez Rides on Tide of Venezuelan Oil, but Will It Ebb Soon?
Miami Herald, Jan. 27 -- With oil prices at all-time highs, sales of Venezuela’s state-owned oil producing company hit $101 billion in 2006 -- making it the biggest company in Latin America -- and Venezuela's economy grew by nearly 20 percent over the past two years. (Quotes David Mares, a professor at UCSD) More

Soon Everyday Items Will Join Networked World
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 28 -- The coming wave of wireless technology systems – with names such as ultra wideband, Wibree and WiMax – could find a home in light switches and light bulbs, blood-pressure monitors, wristwatches and flat-panel televisions. One day, wireless items will be as common as the personal computers and Internet from the earlier revolutions. (Quotes Ramesh Rao, director of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology at UCSD) More

Well-connected from the Start
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 27 – Irwin Jacobs' first claim to fame was Linkabit, a communications consulting firm he co-founded in 1968 with two UCLA professors. He later took an interest in running the company, and in 1971 he left UCSD to lead Linkabit. More

Tribes Seeking Return of Remains
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 27 -- Locked away in a museum safe near Escondido are perhaps the oldest skeletal remains found in the Western Hemisphere. More than 30 years after the relics were unearthed during a classroom archaeological dig at UCSD, the county's Kumeyaay tribes are fighting to reclaim the bones that anthropologists estimate are nearly 10,000 years old. More

High Stakes for Both Sides in Casino Bids
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 27 -- In what may be a referendum on the future of Indian gambling in California, Propositions 94 to 97 ask whether four of the state's wealthiest tribes should be allowed to expand their gaming operations, perhaps dramatically, over the next 23 years. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Steve Erie) More

Scholar: NAFTA Has Helped Mexico, but Not Enough
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 27 -- NAFTA has done the job it was negotiated for, but it has not been enough, a Mexican political economist says. Gustavo Vega, director of the Center for International Studies at the prestigious Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City, said Tuesday at UCSD that while NAFTA has helped create more jobs for Mexicans, it has not helped create enough of them. More

Whale Watching in Peak Season Off San Diego's Coast
KPBS, Jan 28 -- The annual gray whale migration from the Arctic to Baja is at its peak right now. It's an ideal time to go whale watching off San Diego's coastline. (Quotes Birch Aquarium Naturalist Chelsea Rochman) More

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UCSD Puts 'Focus' on Climate Change
San Diego Daily Transcript, Jan. 25 – UCSD will address climate change along with more than 1,000 universities Monday through Thursday in the countrywide program, Focus the Nation. More