Santiago Canyon College and Irvine Valley College building designs among those receiving special recognition

     In this morning's OC Reg: Who in O.C. designs the coolest buildings?

     The recent American Institute of Architects Orange County Chapter awards honored the best commercial property design work done by Orange County architects in the past year.
     Winning projects ran in scope from schools to medical facilities to courthouses that are located in – or planned to be built in – everywhere from Orange County to Texas to the Middle East.
     AIAOC gave its highest honor, The 25-year Award, to Orange County’s Board of Supervisors for the commitment of the county and its OC Parks to open space parkland....

[One] AIAOC Citation Award winner was plans for Irvine Valley College Life Sciences Building, designed by Dougherty + Dougherty Architects. Judges wrote: “This LEED Gold tracking project has a well-organized plan, and a series of glass walls that provides for interesting facades. Jurors liked the details of the exterior shade louvers which seem to be mimicked by the interior railings. The floating glass box at the gallery space and detached shade structure enhance the exterior and make this project noteworthy.”

An AIAOC Merit Award went for the Santiago Canyon College Science Building, designed by LPA Inc. Judges said: “This building is chock full of sustainable design measures, which include a high amount of recycled content, low-e glazing with vertical shading fins, and energy efficient lighting and cooling systems. It is most notable for its sloped metal roof, which provides ample daylight shading and a signature form. The exterior design is comprised of interesting angular geometric forms that provide shading while also allowing ample daylighting."

     Read the rest here.

Councilman Reeve wants to repair the city's reputation!

     According to yesterday’s OC Register, the odious Derek Reeve has at long last poked his head above the horizon: Councilman with dog Muhammad urges religious inclusion (OC Register).
     According to the Reg,

...[Reeve,] who was scolded by some of his colleagues after making remarks … about naming his dog Muhammad ... is trying to repair the city's image with a new tradition in which he plans to select different members of the community to periodically lead invocations at council meetings.

     Repair the city’s image? Way to take responsibility, Derek. It's not you; it's the city!
     What an a**hole.

In a statement, Councilman Derek Reeve said, "San Juan received an unfortunate reputation the last few months as being unfriendly to religion. This, of course, is a false reputation…."

     Right, now he’s decided to alienate SJC atheists and agnostics. Evidently, to Reeve, they’re not even worth mentioning.
     What an a**hole.
     It appears that Reeve plans to do this “selecting” of invokers by himself:

…Reeve plans to select a different local resident to lead an invocation before every fifth council meeting. He says it will promote public participation in "all segments of our community, including religions."

     The Reg notes that it wasn’t just Reeve’s “dog Muhammad” remark that ruffled feathers re religion in recent months: “the city was involved in a controversy over a San Juan Capistrano couple who were fined by the city for hosting large Bible studies in their home.”
     That latter controversy is now resolved.
     Reeve's gambit is transparent: he is bundling these two unrelated controversies—one in which he ridiculed Muslims, another in which the city clumsily fined people for hosting large neighborhood meetings (that the meetings were religious was not the issue)—in order to obscure the obnoxiousness of his action.

This accompanied the Register article. Did I mention that Reeve is an a**hole?

     What an a**hole.
     So, has Reeve run this rotating invocation idea past other Council members?
     Apparently not:

"There is no rule prohibiting this, and I hope the others will follow my lead," Reeve said when asked whether he had discussed his idea with the other council members.

     One more time: WAA.
     Meanwhile, as far as I know, Reeve, who was let go a month or two ago by Concordia University—evidently owing to his serial plagiarism (or his refusal to acknowledge the impropriety of his plagiarism)—still teaches for Saddleback College and is scheduled to teach there again in the spring.

P.S.: before I hear from the Incorrigible One, I want to briefly explain my use of the term “asshole.” According to the OED, an “asshole” is “someone or something foolish or contemptible.” Quite so. Do I believe that DR is foolish or contemptible? I do. (He's both.) Is it necessarily unfair or illogical to take such a view of a person? Obviously not, for some people, obviously, are foolish or contemptible or both.
     I do believe that it is important that one have (and give) reasons for taking such a view of a person. That’s what I do in this post. I note that DR lumps together his own recent action (of ridiculing Muslims) with the city’s clumsy (and far less disturbing) act of fining neighborhood religious meetings—something, I suggest, he does plainly in order to obscure the contemptible nature of his own action. That DR engages in such cowardly and self-serving sophistry (I suggest) entitles one to conclude that he is contemptible, i.e., an “asshole.” Thus, in this instance, though I apply a "name" to DR, I nevertheless rise above “mere” name-calling. (See also In defense of name-calling.)

UCI’s new New University doesn’t suck! (Red Emma)

By Red Emma

     Striding bravely to and from classes, staff meetings, union grievances, bookstore events or demonstrations, UC Irvine’s Red Emma searches the corporate campus searching for news, for corroboration, not to mention looking for voter registration tables or any other behaviors of resistance to the operation of the machine. Rebuffing efforts to recruit him into a sorority or pledge his love for Jesus, he does his best to frighten the woman-hating anti-abortion rights pamphleteers and tries very hard indeed to make the Obectivist boys cry by teasing them about their cultish lunatic leader, the undead Ms. Rand. Some fun!
     Along the way, Red picks up a copy of New University, historically a pretty weak student-run paper. The problem (like you needed another one) with New U is that its MO for reporting news and features is to mimic, slavishly, the presumed tradition of much bigger—and dying—papers, presumably to teach students to be like the now laid-off reporters who used to work at, say, the Los Angeles Times and OC Register.

objective

     New University, as with the long-ago murderized Irvine Valley College Voice and, yes, Saddleback’s Lariat, suffers from a weird devotion to being all things to some imaginary all people. The kids who write for these papers, god bless ‘em, don’t actually read the above corporate mainstream newspapers but, despite that sorry irony, have been instructed it seems to write short, generic, simulacra of what somebody, perhaps that same person, told them would get them into J-school or make advertisers happy–kind of the same thing, now that I mention it. (You’re welcome!)
     This totally inappropriate model flies in the face of the opportunity, unique to an institutionally supported news outlet, to claim a necessary role. These papers could find stories that nobody else is covering. They could investigate and muckrake and even teach students about actual policy instead of covering–I kid you not!–world news, reviewing yogurt stands, or rewriting corporate media press releases, all of which nobody reads anyway except Red, who apparently needs something to get pissed off about.
     It doesn’t have to be like that. And, happily, Red Emma is here to report that, in recent weeks, it hasn’t been. Under the editorial direction of one Gregory Yee, the paper actually reflects what is happening in the system. Yee and his stalwarts at New U have, despite the no doubt overwhelming pressure of the status quo, in three consecutive recent weeks transformed at least the front page of the newspaper into an aggressive presentation of what is unarguably THE story–student protests, budget cuts, Regent foolishness, Occupy resistance–along with writing some brave editorials and featuring a couple of thoughtful commentaries. Yippee!

     Not since the Radical Student Union published the UC Irvine Disorientation Guide (sic)–now out of print but rumored to be revised and republished–has this reader so eagerly sought student media on campus. Check it out: the most recent front page featured a long piece on “Students Protest Regents Meeting,” and, even better, a sidebar with the either provocative or totally wonderfully obvious (depending on your level of political engagement) title “Corporations or Education?” and listing, helpfully, the positions and affiliations of the odious Regents. It concludes with: “Only 1 of the 19 appointed UC Regents holds prior experience serving as an educator.” Naturally, Red brought the paper to class, sharing it with students who either did not know there was a school newspaper in the first place or never, ever read it. Together, we went through the impressive list of financial services, real estate and corporate tycoons, using their computers to corroborate the (un)startling news delivered right there in black and white—and read all over.
     The old university of estrangement, tunnel vision, obliviousness lately seems dead. Long live the new New University!  – RE

Editor’s note:

Davis

     I just wanted to mention that I visited UCI yesterday to attend an event featuring DtB friend and former IVC student, Jason Davis, who graduated last spring with a degree from UCI’s Program in Literary Journalism.
     The program has a “magazine of literary journalism”—Kiosk—and one of Jason’s pieces was selected for inclusion in the latest issue. He was also among the few contributors asked to read from his work at last night's event (Brian and Me).
     Pretty wonderful stuff. Check it out.
     Upon graduation, Jason landed a very cool job writing for an online publication. He has literary projects in the works that promise big things. We couldn't be happier for him! –BvT

A perfect storm of treacherous atmospheric effluviulescence

     

❄...Special festive holiday post...❄

    ONE OF THE MORE controversial buildings at Irvine Valley College is "BSTIC," the "Business Sciences Technology and Innovation Center," which was completed about two years ago. Think of "business," and then think of a tick. That's BSTIC.

Mr. tick

     Curiously, some of the programs BSTIC was built for went into serious decline just before or during BSTIC's opening. (I won't even get into the lab tracking issue and its impact!) Consequently, BSTIC is a bit like the "DoDo Bird Center." Meanwhile, Schools that are larger and more productive than the DoDo Schools remain housed in shitty digs—or nowhere in particular, scattered among the various buildings and centers and grassy knolls at IVC. 

    BSTIC is a weird looking or attractive building, depending on where you're standing. It's got a pointy "bow" end (see above). It's got lots of fake brick on another end (it seems to have several ends). Don't know what it looks like on top. Flat, probably.

    Some of the interior spaces are pretty cool, I guess. Fancy schmancy, high tech, whizz-bangery. People have mostly grown accustomed to the endless echoes in those vast, empty rooms and halls. (See above.)

     OK, we'll get back to that. Now, some physics:

     You wouldn't believe the physical processes that can mess up or enhance a building: you've got convection effects and moisture effects and wind effects, etc.

    Illustrated above is the "Venturi effect," which involves wind (or just air) suddenly being funneled through a narrow space, causing the air to speed up and the pressure to go down. When that happens on a side of a building, it can cause unwanted wind or suction, etc. 

     It's a big issue for tall apartment buildings that are close together by the beach. Sometimes, a guy will poke his head out of his window and the wind can be so fierce that the guy's head gets torn off his body and sent bouncing down the goddam street!

     The Venturi effect can be nasty.

     Ain't physics wonderful? You can get severe blowage and you can get severe suckage. You gotta know about these phenomena before you spend millions of dollars on a building to house your dying programs.

     Let's take suckage. If you get too much suckage, you'll find things stuck to the wall that aren't supposed to be there.

     OK, LET'S GET SEMI-SERIOUS. Now, suppose you've got a nice, big building—like BSTIC—with some kind of heating unit up in the attic or on the roof. The unit burns natural gas, but it also gives off substantial afterfume spewage (that's the technical term, in my mind), which normally escapes to the outside through roof vents and such. 

     That's OK, cuz almost never do students hang out on the roof sucking on these vents. They do other things up there.

     Now, what if you build your fancy new building (like BSTIC) and then something unexpected happens? For instance, on the top floor of BSTIC, you've got lots of Fine Arts types, plus a special room for forensic speechifiers. That, or maybe something else, can create extraordinary volumes of vituperative hot gas that naturally floats up through the vents into the HVAC. Now, that's not good. The system wasn't designed for massive volumes of gratuitous hot air, no sir.

     And suppose that, somehow, there arises some kind of vent restriction up where all that afterfume spewage is supposed to belch forth, harmlessly. Could happen. Or maybe it's something else, dunno. [OK, I'm speculating.] Well, now, you've got a perfect storm of treacherous atmospheric effluviulescence! That hot air, mixed with afterfume spewage, has gotta go somewhere! 

     And so it does.

     Could be you'll get all that miasmic funk going straight back into the building, causing unpleasant stinkage and worse. (See above.)

     It can get so dicey in the building that you've got to shut off the HVAC! If it's summer, that means it gets hot and stinky and toxic inside. If it's winter, it gets dank and frigid and noxious, like the southern realms of an Eskimo's shithouse.

     Well, it's winter. In fact, it's the "holiday season." And shit happens.

     What to do?

     Since it's IVC, there's only one thing to do: move the boiler, and when that doesn't fix the problem, simply advise all building denizens to bring sweaters.

     Perfect!  
     But that's when things get really ugly:

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

Yikes! Es past nit!

Santa at the veritable wooly Hellmouth

Crickey, threads from a marmite motorway!

OK, this is kinda pleasant. Hey Antler Girl!

Renaming Saddleback College's "Butt" Library

     I noticed that, on Monday, the Lariat posted an editorial: What should the new Library be named?
     Gosh, I’m surprised that college officials are even contemplating changing the library’s name, what with Tom Fuentes still among the living! (Fuentes knew and loved cold war right-winger James B. Utt, after whom the library was originally named.)
     The Lariat clearly seems to think that a name-change opportunity exists.
     It notes a serious problem with the existing name: “Currently the name is the James B. Utt library which has been given the nickname the ‘Butt Library.’”
     Ouch.
     The Lariat seems to embrace criteria for naming the library after a person: “A person should be memorialized with his or her name on a building only if they have contributed a lot to the campus, both in his or her terms of time and monetary patronage.”
     Both? Whatever.
     The Lariat has a sense of humor:

     One of the more popular ideas is to give the name a sense of learning and dedication.
     The Saddleback College Library of the Pursuit of Higher Dedication to the Continual Journey of Knowledge [SCLPHDCJK for short], is certainly not a practical name but the essence is to give it a cerebral quality that should be found at a college.

     Yes, a cerebral quality should indeed be found at a college.
     That’s funny, especially at Saddleback.
     Naturally, I wrote them my suggestions:

     …How about the “Bedtime for Bonzo” Library—in honor of Saint Ronald, who was on hand for the campus’s opening?
     “Bonzo” Library is more pithy. Also “Bedtime” Library (which gets a plus for fidelity to fact).
     Or just “Library.” That would be cool, pithy-wise.
     You can’t call it the “Gaucho” Library because, as you should know, the “Gaucho” moniker/mascot is controversial and, indeed, there’s some sort of committee working on its replacement.
     How about “Gabacho” Library? From “Gaucho” to “Gebacho” is cool, I think, in a meta kind of way.
     The original library’s design was changed when right-wing trustees got weirded out by the student anti-war protests occurring in Santa Barbara at the time. That’s why it had no windows: they wanted it to be a fortress against students!
     So how about “Bastion” Library? Or “Paranoid” Library? Or maybe the “Fear of Students” Library?
     For the sake of timeliness, I’d go with the “Soon-to-be-phased-out” Library or the “Increasingly Anachronistic” Library.
     Or you could go in the other direction. Call it “Books” Library. That would be fun, I think. There’s a nice right to that.
     One more: the “Non-ALA affiliated” Library. Or just the “Benighted” Library.

     Be sure to send the Lariat—and college decision-makers—your own thoughtful suggestions. It couldn’t possibly hurt.

Missing again?

     As DtB readers know, Saddleback College instructor Amy Ahearn was recently found after having "disappeared" for many weeks. (She likely has Huntington's.) One of her sisters created a Facebook page to help communicate with those helping in the search: here.
     I visited that page this morning and found the following (from Dec. 1):

It's Convenient!

     Recently, gleaming "Convenience Centers" have appeared in the restrooms, affixed to walls, throughout [IVC] campus.
     Here is the one in the men's facility in A-200.
     It's worth noting that the female version of the "Convenience Center" lacks birth control (condoms) and cologne.
     Why?
     Quipped one IVC wag, it's because men are stinky and sexually active.
     Women are offered instead lip gloss and breath fresheners along with the usual array of feminine hygiene products.
     Interested in starting your own Protocol Personal Product Convenience Center franchise? Visit their website by clicking here.
     from their website:

     Since 1987, more than 30,000 Protocol Personal Products Convenience Centers have been installed in a wide variety of public places. Let a turnkey Protocol program turn a profit for you!
     Help your employees stay productive!
     Protocol machines offer employees immediate access to personal products. This allows them to return quickly to their duties. If your company employs healthcare professionals, now they can spend time more productively on other projects. Having employees purchase over-the-counter medications may relieve you of various legal implications.

     (Don't ask how Rebel Girl got this photo.)

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