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Andy Evangelista
first appeared 12 May 2000 Birds’ Eye View Is it a bird, a plane or an unappreciated staff member? Sometimes, it’s too quick to avoid and even see. We tried unsuccessfully to get a digital snapshot of the vicious mother (could be a father, too), so the picture here, courtesy of Alfred Hitchcock’s "The Birds," will have to do.
Actually, the blackbirds (eye witnesses report more than one) are quite a bit smaller than those shown here, but just as tough. They’ve been terrorizing Parnassus people for a couple weeks now, nipping at pedestrians’ heads. Blonde, gray, pony tail, bald, corn rows, hard hat, or head of a department – these peckers do not discriminate. The signs on the row of trees -- on the north side of Parnasuss and in front of ACC and Millberry Union -- explain: "Caution. Bird Nesting Area. Beware of Birds Protecting Their Nests." But this recent victim of a dive attack thought he heard a mad bird chirp: "This if for attributing that sappy ‘Hey Mr. Tambourine Man’ to us." One can easily spot Parnassus veterans or previous victims -- they cover their heads when approaching or detour the danger zone. Scott, Marvin and Joe, three Calistoga workers who deliver bottled water to UCSF offices have become regular birdwatchers. During their lunch break, they observe the birds and their unwitting victims. The trio has become big bird fans. "They have a lot of energy. They get 30 to 40 people in an hour." Dexter Lee, who heads the UCSF gardeners, says they try to maintain the trees in the winter and trim them in a way that might discourage the blackbirds from choosing this busy block come springtime. But, for some reason, they return with a vengeance every year. They usually leave peacefully with their young and future attackers. So, we’ll let nature take its course – and let the pedestrians take theirs. Much More Than Office Furniture Rebecca Salzer, administrator in the division of occupational and environmental medicine, is also a producer, writer, choreographer and dancer. And she’s combined all her talents to make an award-winning film, which was featured at the recent SF International Film Festival.
"Office Furniture," which Salzer describes as an experimental film, is a nine-minute black and white short that blends comedy and dance to tell the story of one woman’s frustrating search for a corporate job. The film alternates between short clips of job interviews and dances shot on the streets of SF’s financial district. As the woman walks from interview, the downtown scenes metamorphose into a landscape of dances. Salzer wrote the script, choreographed it, and dances in the film. The film, which won a Golden Spire Award in the category of Bay Area Shorts at the International Film Festival, was designed for programming on cable and public television. KQED may air the film in coming weeks. For those who missed the film festival, they can view it May 25-27 and 29 & 30 at the Yugen/Noh Space, 2840 Mariposa St., in SF. There, the Rebecca Salzer Dance Theater (yes, she’s had her own dance theater since 1996) will present "Dance with Words" – an evening of short plays set to movement. Office Furniture will be shown as part of the program. For more information, call 415/621-7978. Love Means Not Having to Say You’re Sorry We admit almost being bitten by the bug. An ILOVEYOU message at 7 a.m. is intriguing – was it something I wrote, something I wore, or is this a continuation of staff appreciation week? This computer user tried to open the note, but thanks to a lack of software and lack of coffee, I was too slow. The dozens of ILOVEYOUs then poured into the mailbox, and reality bit. One love note is a fantasy – 50 means a virus and a busted hard drive. Others weren’t so lucky. Nathan Berneman, in the VC-Administration, clicked and suffered. He had a good excuse: he was in the office early, and the first message had his boss’ name. When the screen started flashing, he immediately knew something was wrong, but he was a double-click late. It happens to the best – Nathan is the computer support coordinator in his unit. He was too busy last Thursday rebuilding his computer to boot himself in the butt. Mike Kincaid, who oversees servers and systems for some 600 people in administrative units, was one of several campus troubleshooters to work long hours last week. He reported that 80,000 ILOVEYOU messages were spawned and cleaned by new email virus scanning software on those servers, and some 25 users, who clicked the culprit, crashed their computers. Rolinda Wang in the School of Medicine said 8,500 letters made their way through the mail, but only five users reported damages. Medical people perhaps know something about viruses. The UCSF damage was mild compared to corporations that were crippled by the "killa from Manilla." Word of the virus spread fast here, and although at times it seemed the warning messages outnumbered the love letters, rapid and constant work by ITS staff and others helped save the campus from a computer killer epidemic. Ellen Amsel of ITS information security planning warns of new viruses. ITS has set up a helpful website to explain the ILOVEYOU and other viruses, and the information security site offers preventive measures. But virus makers are becoming too savvy, says Amsel. Not only do they know the computer world, they have figured out what makes people click. That’s Appreciation Some numbers from last month’s Staff Appreciation Week – 59 full-sheet cakes and 5,044 cookies were served at the various campus sites. Steve Shorette’s regular crew of 11 in Moffitt Catering averaged 57 hours that week to prepare the goodies. In addition, some 1,350 burgers, 650 hot dogs and 650 veggie burgers were served at the School of Medicine staff appreciation event in the MU Gym. The School put on quite a party – prizes, games and good music. The baseball caps handed out by faculty and administrators were cool. And they came in handy that day – protected heads from the attacking blackbirds outside of Millberry Union. Readers: If you have any items or suggestions for this column, send us an email: aevangelista@pubaff.ucsf.edu . |
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