Four in a row for Bonds?
Despite the fact that Barry Bonds leads the National League in batting
average, walks and on-base percentage, because of his past success
he may not be a lock for league MVP, the San Jose Mercury News reported
in its Sept. 2 edition. Jules Tyigiel, professor of history, believes
that, in the end, the sportswriters who vote for the award will choose
Bonds. "I think at this point you have to look for excuses not
to select him," he said. "When it comes down to the end of
the season, I think everybody will look at his numbers and say of course
he's the MVP."
Neptune-sized planets discovered
The discovery of two planets outside the solar system that are similar
in size to Neptune made headlines across the country Sept. 1. One of
the planets was discovered by a team that includes Debra Fischer, assistant
professor of astronomy. "The theorists weren't even sure that
these (smaller) objects could be made," Fischer told the Contra
Costa Times. "This is opening the door to a whole new theory and
a better understanding of what we can have as planets around other
stars, and I'd say we can have anything."
A look back at the city's general strike
Robert Cherny, professor of history, and Harvey
Schwartz, oral historian
with the Labor Archives, appeared on a special Sept. 1 edition of KQED's "Forum" to
discuss the 70th anniversary of the San Francisco general strike. The
strike began with longshoremen who were fed up with unsafe working
conditions and lack of job security, with jobs being only offered on
a day-to-day basis. "What was going on was that the longshore
workers were really responding to the problems they had faced all through
the twenties and into the early thirties," Cherny said, "...
San Francisco and Los Angeles had the reputations as being the most
efficient ports in the countries during the 1920s, and that often translated
into a lot of disabling injuries on the job."
A cloning proposition
California voters should be aware that Proposition 71, which will appear
on the November ballot, is not quite what it seems, writes Tina
Stevens,
a lecturer in history, in an Aug. 29 opinion piece for the San Francisco
Chronicle. Stevens explains: "Because California legislators passed
a law in 2002 banning human-reproductive cloning, voters (including
those who, like me, are pro choice and support embryonic stem-cell
research in principle) should know that Prop. 71 prioritizes exactly
the same research that must be perfected in order to succeed at human
reproductive cloning."
Destination SFSU
According to a story in the Aug. 23 San Francisco Chronicle, SFSU now
offers more on-campus housing and is attracting more students from
Southern California. "There are going to be over 2,000 students
living here on campus. They create their own city here," said
Jan Andreasen, executive director of housing and residential services. "Having
students who are interested in evening and weekend things adds to the
fabric of the campus."
Competence
with commas
English Professor and College of Humanities Associate Dean Elise
Ann Earthman stressed the importance of proper punctuation in an Aug. 21
Sacramento Bee story on National Punctuation Day, celebrated Aug. 22. "I
really believe there is a glass ceiling that has to do with your communication
skills," she said. "If you have deficient writing skills, you
may get an entry-level job, but you're not going to advance in the workplace."
For
more SFSU people and programs in the news, see the SFSU
in the News page on SF State
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