UC Berkeley professor Dr. Robert Bea is an expert in off-shore oil rig accidents, and he was asked by the White House last week to analyze the BP disaster in the Gulf. As 60 Minutes reports, Dr. Bea also investigated the Challenger disaster, and the Hurricane Katrina disaster -- after which his voice never fully recovered. more ›

The kids at UC Berkeley have even more reason to brag about their top-ranked stoner school today. Cal will be sending two research students abroad to play beer pong in more esteemed and invigorating settings via the awe-inspiring Fulbright program. The lucky students are: more ›

First, a little politics. Nancy Pelosi calls for the declassification of her memo to the administration regarding secret surveillance of American citizens. Ann Harrison has an exhaustive first-person account on the recent medical marijuana dispensary raids. Executive Editor Chris Lopez softens the "Wiretap Scandal" headline at the Contra Costa Times. And Dan Gillmore is going non-profit and creating a Center for Citizen Journalism along with Cal Berkeley and Harvard, causing some to ask whither Bayosphere? more ›

Josh Wolf captures the one, the only Frank Chu on tape. Listen and learn, people. Harder to capture is reclusive local author Laura Albert JT LeRoy. Also at large is the motherf**ker who vandalized Farmer John's coastside teepee. more ›

The neighbors have spoken, and it's all over for the kids at Cal Berkeley's Le Chateau co-op (called an "Animal House" in the East Bay Express). Friend of SFist Patricia Johnson penned a beautiful elegy published by the Pacific News Service: more ›

The question we have to ask is this: were journalists just traipsing about the country side, fabricating quotes and anecdotes merrily for years without repercussion or something? For all the old media bleating about uneducated, unethical punks on the internets who care naught for objectivity or investigative rigor, there seems to be a rash of alleged impropriety of late. Latest victim: New York-based freelancer Michelle Delio, who recently had articles pulled or amended in Wired, MIT's Technology Review and InfoWorld. D'oh! more ›

In the interest of full disclosure, SFist Ted, our new weatherman, also happens to be Dogster Ted. And while we've harshed on the Webby Awards only just recently, we're still proud. You can register to vote for them to win the "People's Choice Award" in their category, "Community" -- and as Ted points out, they don't seem to be too picky in letting you use as many emails as you like to register again and again (not that the stringent ethical guidelines at SFist would allow us to do that). more ›

The series was a must-watch, especially in our house on Martin Luther King Day and during Black History month at school. It looks like copies of the box set can still be had from Amazon, although at a cost prohibitive to individuals and small institutions. The idea that we won't be able to sit our own children down to watch this is rather troubling. more ›