eastbayexpress.com | News & Features | City of Warts | Let the Bulldozing Commence | 2006-01-11:

On to the California Department of Health Services
laboratory, at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Berkeley Way. On one
end, you have the Gourmet Ghetto. On the other end, you have downtown
Berkeley's movie theaters, restaurants, and nightclubs. But for some
reason, there's an eerie no-man's-land that keeps the two from becoming
one grand boulevard of eateries and nightlife. That'd be the
intervening parking lot and hideous eight-story monolith, where worker
bees once toiled in research laboratories run by the state Department
of Health Services.

Yes, tear it down -- but just keep the parking lots!

More Companies Ending Promises for Retirement - New York Times.
Another story about how companies (even companies that are doing really
well) are moving away from their pension plans, shifting the long-term
risk to employees.

Last weekend, I learned about the Jewish concept of Lashon hara, making me more conscious of my own need for good talk.