But what was Steve Wozniak’s Cal experience really like? We at the Daily Clog sat down with the Wizard of Wozillia himself to find out.

The Daily Californian: Can you tell us a little bit about how you arrived at UC Berkeley? Why did you choose to transfer here for your junior year?

Steve Wozniak: My parents had me apply to the University of California because it was an awful lot less expensive. So I applied. Berkeley really was the school I would have wanted to go to, because it had a reputation for intellectual free-thinking. Civil liberties and the politics and economics of war were being challenged. Freedom of speech was being brought up as a subject. So I really admired Berkeley in that sense. I just wanted to be among great thinkers. So in my third year of college, I transferred into Berkeley.

DC: After your first year at UC Berkeley, you left and founded Apple with Steve Jobs. But you made sure to return to UC Berkeley to finish your degree. Why? Why does a college degree matter to you?

SW: I had done a lot outside of Cal that would have been equivalent to Master’s and PhD projects, but having a symbol to represent these accomplishments is very important. Also, just being able to tell your kids what college you went to is going to encourage them to go to college. And college is just the most fun four years of your life.

DC: Where, in your experience, is the best place for experiencing what it means to be a Golden Bear?

SW: Oh my gosh. The first place that comes to mind is the rallies before the Big Game. As part of Berkeley itself, Sather Gate stands out in my mind as the most prominent feature of the university.

DC: Sproul Plaza has always been a center of campus activity. Any memories, strange encounters or lessons that you learned there?

SW: I often saw musicians sitting down and playing the guitar. I was into that kind of folkish approach. Sometimes, I’d sit down and listen to them — and even skip class for it.

DC: Do you still like the same kind of music? What’s playing on your iTunes right now?

SW: [laughs] Usually something a little bit country. A little bit folk. Ariana Gillis is one of my favorites. Let’s see, I like The Airborne Toxic Event, Train, Counting Crows — oh my gosh — Counting Crows. Right out of Berkeley! I love them so much. We got to meet the guitarist and we go out with him and his girlfriend all the time.

DC: Do you have a favorite song from Counting Crows?

SW: “Round Here,” “Mr. Jones,” … actually, all their songs. They are just so incredible. I actually take most songs I like and go online, read the lyrics and think about them. This kind of thinking is what college is about and it means a lot to me. Music was a big part of my life in learning how to live.

DC: Cool. Other than music, Sproul is known for its demonstrations. Was this true when you were at Cal?

SW: We had sit-downs in those days. But there was one protest where marchers went to Bancroft and Shattuck and smashed every window. We had large demonstrations; the police would show up and start firing tear gas and everyone would run. The cops would be shooting rubber bullets, so the kids in the dorms would love to go looking for them. I kept hoping … to get a picture taken next to a tear gas canister spewing out smoke. But I never achieved that. I never found a rubber bullet either — but thank God I never got a hit by one. Although, one time I was at a payphone on Bancroft and Telegraph and all of a sudden cops pulled up in “blue minis.” They started shooting their guns; the crowd started running but I was trapped in the phone booth, waiting for an operator to get back to me. I was ducking down. The windows were already broken on that pay phone. I was so scared I was going to get hit. But I didn’t. They left me alone. [laughs]

DC: While living in Norton Hall, Unit 3, you describe phone phreaking. Can you tell us a bit more? What experience stands out?

SW: Wow. I discovered, the day before coming to school at Berkeley, this whole idea that you could put little tones into a phone and dial calls anywhere in the world. It was  a bug in the phone system. I was talented enough to build tone makers — I did this with Steve Jobs — and I was excited that we would be able to make a device that would make calls all over the world. We were honest enough to tell our parents what we were doing. They just said not to make any of the calls from their phones. So we would mostly do it from the dorm rooms.

I had read about phone phreaks that were great engineers. They would hook into payphone cables in Arizona and set up worldwide networks. They were smarter than phone company engineers and drove around with vans full of equipment. And oh my gosh, they were just like science fiction heroes — except they were real.

DC: Tell us about the Blue Box. We know it’s a device that you used to make international calls for free, but what did you do with it?

SW: It was never my idea to sell a Blue Box — just to make one to show off. But Steve Jobs said, “Why don’t we sell these to students?” He was always short on money. So we would set up demonstrations in dorms around campus. We would knock on doors until we found someone that looked cool … so, you know, they wouldn’t turn us in. Then we would set up an appointment to come back that night. Usually a group of about 12-20 people would be in the room. I would be the master of ceremonies. I’d tell stories about what phone phreaks have done and what they could do. I’d make a demonstration Blue Box call and we would wind up calling around the world. At every single demo, we sold a Blue Box.

DC: Wow, it sounds like you could do some crazy stuff with the Blue Box. Did you pull any pranks with it?

SW: We called the Pope. I pretended to be Henry Kissinger with Richard Nixon at a summit meeting in Moscow. I said that I wanted to talk to the Pope. I reached the Bishop, who going to be the translator, an hour later — but he had called the real Henry Kissinger. So, I was busted. We didn’t have caller ID in those days.

DC: That’s awesome. Are there any other wild experiences you had because of your phone phreaking hobby?

SW: One day, we had a Blue Box to sell to somebody in the dorms. We stopped at a pizza parlor and demonstrated it to some people there. Then they came up to our car and robbed us of it at gun point. But they left their phone number so that we could call and tell them how to use it. They wanted to pay for it but just didn’t have the money.

DC: Wow, that’s intense.

SW: [laughs] We did a lot of incredible interesting things that people couldn’t believe.

DC: Looking back, what advice would you give graduating seniors?

SW: Don’t expect that right away — even though you’re smarter than someone else — you’re going to stand out and have better ideas and approaches. It takes a while to learn that.

Contact Alex Mabanta at amabanta@dailycal.org.

The post The Clog interviews Steve Wozniak appeared first on The Daily Californian.

SB 240, authored by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, aims to increase levels of voting among college students by addressing the geographic concerns regarding polling sites. According to the bill’s provisions, county officials would have to locate a polling site within campus boundaries for every election.

The bill, however, does not require community colleges to have polling sites — only that county officials consider placing sites on community college campuses. According to Adam Keigwin, a spokesperson for Yee’s office, the rationale for this is that many community college students live at home and can easily vote at their neighborhood polling site.

“The goal of this bill is to get young people involved in democracy,” Keigwin said. “Anytime you make polling easier for students or young people, they show up.”

County governments are responsible for determining polling locations, which can change depending on the size of the election in question. For smaller elections, counties typically consolidate polling posts, potentially removing sites on university campuses.

Tim Dupuis, interim registrar of voters for Alameda County, said the bill would not decrease poll access for Alameda County voters despite the set number of polling sites per precinct.

UC Student Regent Jonathan Stein expressed enthusiasm for the bill, saying that it would improve student-voter turnout on campuses.

The passage of SB 240 would have little effect on UC Berkeley, as polling sites are nearly always set up on campus. During the 2012 presidential election, polling sites at UC Berkeley were located at campus residences Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Clark Kerr and the Oscar Wilde House.

Even with an abundance of polling sites on campus, peripheral location of sites can make it difficult for some students to cast their votes. For freshman Dustin Marshall, the two-hour wait he experienced during the presidential election was not too much of an issue, but for others, the wait can be a deterrent to casting their votes.

“It was my first time voting, so I was excited,” Marshall said. “I can see how someone might be upset if it wasn’t their first time voting.”

Yee’s office remains optimistic about the bill’s bipartisan support during the legislative process. Sen. Joel Anderson, R-San Diego, an early supporter of the bill, agreed to be named co-author in March if the bill’s provisions continue to apply to all elections, presidential or otherwise.

The bill will have to go through the elections committee in March and, if received favorably, will go to the Senate floor for debate in June.

Contact Christine Tyler and Matt Trejo at newsdesk@dailycal.org.

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According to a UCPD crime alert released Wednesday, the victim was at the intersection of Channing Way and Dana Street when two male suspects run up to him from behind at about 5:57 a.m.  The suspects demanded the victim’s property and he handed them his wallet, the alert states.

The victim, whose affiliation to UC Berkeley is unknown, was ordered to turn and run. The suspects then fled in an unknown direction. The victim was not injured during the encounter, according to the alert.

UCPD and the Berkeley Police Department searched the area but were unable to locate the two suspects.

According to the UCPD crime alert, the suspects are described as:

Suspect #1 –  A Black male in his late 20s, 6’1” in height, 185 lbs., wearing a black beanie, a dark heavy coat and grey pants.

Suspect #2 – A Black male in his mid-20s, 5’11” in height, 160-170 lbs., with close cut black hair wearing a grey pattern sweatshirt and light blue jeans.

Chloe Hunt covers crime. Contact her at cthunt@dailycal.org.

The post Strong arm robbery reported near south side of Unit 3 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The cafe, located in the Unit 3 Residence Hall near Telegraph Avenue between Channing Way and Durant Avenue, will begin its new hours of operation and provide both brunch and dinner starting Aug. 20.

The cafe originally had to curtail service in Fall 2009 due to budget cuts, according to Patrice Thomas, customer and public relations manager at Cal Dining.

“With the opening of Maximino Martinez Commons and the addition of 400 new residents, we are able to offer a full week of service at Cafe 3,” Thomas said in an email. “Increasing the service hours also allows us to meet the increased demand of the new residential community.”

Maximino Martinez Commons, located near People’s Park, is expected to open in the fall and will service 416 students.

According to Thomas, the cafe will continue its unique brunch and dinner service, and will be serving 14 meals a week to its patrons. Of the four main campus dining commons — including the Crossroads, Foothill and Clark Kerr dining commons — Cafe 3 is the only one that serves weekday brunch, according to the Cal Dining website.

“Brunch and dinner will be served seven days a week,” Thomas said in the email. “Brunch is served from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and dinner from 5-9 p.m.,” Thomas said in the email. “We do anticipate an increase in meals served due to Martinez Commons.”

Chuck Davies, the associate director of residential dining at Cal Dining, said the expanded operation days at Cal Dining will have a positive effect on Crossroads, the residential dining commons located near the Unit 1 and Unit 2 residence halls.

“Things will be a lot less crazy at Crossroads, particularly on the weekends,” Davies said. “It will relieve pressure on service.”

According to Thomas, the type of service and menu at the cafe will be the same, but there will be some noticeable changes such as a self-service deli bar that was added over the summer and expanded grill service. Cal Dining also hopes to add two full-time sushi chefs to the cafe.

“With expanded service there are additional costs for labor, food and other expenses but these will be offset by the revenue that we will receive from the 220 new resident meal plans at Martinez Commons,” Thomas said in the email.

Norma Jamison-Birks, general manager at Cafe 3 and the Unit 3 Bear Market, said in an email that the cafe staff is looking forward to expanding service.

“We serve several items, like our daily omelette bar, that are very popular with students,” Jamison-Birks said in an email. “Now they will be able to enjoy more of their favorite dishes all week long.”

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The victim told UCPD police he left his Unit 3 Ida Sproul ground floor suite at about 6:15 a.m. and suspects that he left the sliding glass door that leads to the unit’s patio unlocked, according to UCPD Lt. Marc DeCoulode. One of the victim’s roommates awoke at about 9 a.m. and noticed that the burglary had occurred when he entered the suite’s common room.

The victim’s roommates were sleeping in an adjacent bedroom when he left in the morning. No one was injured in the incident.

According to the UCPD crime logs, a laptop, iPod and cash were taken during the burglary, resulting in a $1,145 loss.

DeCoulode said the incident highlights the need for people to lock their windows and doors when they leave their homes, especially if they live on the ground floor.

According to DeCoulode, the resident hall units are not typical sites for burglaries. He added that this incident is of particular concern because its early morning time frame means it occurred during a time when students would typically be in their residences.

“The middle of the day is bad enough,” he said.

There have been no arrests made in connection with the burglary.

Crime statistics released by the Berkeley Police Department show a three-case increase in the number of burglaries that occurred in the first six months of 2011 in the Berkeley jurisdiction than in the same time period of 2010, amounting to a 0.6 percent increase.

Sarah Burns is the lead crime reporter.

The post Unit 3 suite burglarized appeared first on The Daily Californian.

In each of the three cases, one suspect — who was positively identified by the victim — was arrested by responding UCPD officers within minutes of the sexual battery.

The first incident occurred on campus at about 1:06 a.m. Sunday when a non-affiliated female was walking home through the Eucalyptus Grove, a site that has seen its share of sex crimes in the past year. While the victim was crossing the west bridge of Grinnell Pathway, a man approached her and asked for directions, according to a UCPD crime alert. When she began to give him directions, the suspect grabbed her groin area and breasts.

The victim then screamed and fled toward Oxford Street, where she flagged down a UCPD Security Patrol Officer who radioed the department with a description of the suspect. At around 1:18 a.m., UCPD officers spotted an individual who matched the description on the east side of Haas Pavilion heading toward Bancroft Way and detained 32-year-old Edward Mosqueda, according to UCPD Lt. Marc Decoulode, spokesperson for the department. The victim and a witness positively identified the suspect, who was then taken into custody at the Berkeley Police Department jail facility.

In April, the Eucalyptus Grove saw two separate incidents of sexual battery and one incident of sexual assault that occurred within the same week — two of which occurred within the same hour. There were at least five cases of sex crimes in the grove in the spring and two during all of last fall semester.

“I don’t know if I’d say it’s common, but it does happen there,” Decoulode said.

In the second Sunday morning incident, a UC Berkeley parent was moving her son into the dorms at Unit 3 when a man approached her from behind. While she was standing on the sidewalk watching over her son’s property, the suspect came up to her and grabbed her between the legs over her clothing, according to Decoulode.

The victim then struck the man with her purse and exchanged a few words with him as he fled, Decoulode said. When the suspect walked away, the victim flagged down a nearby UCPD Community Services Officer who radioed the department.

While the responding UCPD officer was talking to the “very distraught” victim, the suspect walked across the street, and the victim pointed him out, Decoulode said.

UCPD officers then detained 42-year-old Ruben Palate, according a UCPD crime alert. Berkeley police officers then arrived and took custody of the suspect.

The third incident occurred Monday night at about 9 p.m. near the intersection of Durant Avenue and Bowditch Street. While walking down the 2600 block of Durant with two friends, a 19-year-old UC Berkeley student was approached by a man from behind and grabbed inappropriately, according to a UCPD crime alert. UCPD responded to the scene and detained an individual, who matched the description of the suspect, at the intersection of Bowditch and Haste Street — about two blocks south of the site of the crime.

The suspect, Torra Lewis, 49, was positively identified by the victim and taken into custody by BPD.

None of the victims were injured during the encounters.

View Sexual batteries 8/21/2011 – 8/22/2011 to see where the crimes occurred.

Stephanie Baer is the city news editor.

The post UCPD responds to three sexual battery incidents appeared first on The Daily Californian.

At around 10:25 a.m., the victim was standing outside of Unit 3 on the 2400 block of Channing Way when she was approached from behind by a male who grabbed her between the legs over her clothing, according to UCPD Lt. Marc Decoulode, spokesperson for the department. The victim then struck the man with her purse. When the suspect walked away, the victim flagged down a nearby UCPD Community Services Officer who radioed the department.

UCPD officers then responded to the scene and detained 42-year-old Ruben Palate, who was positively identified by the victim, according to a UCPD crime alert. Berkeley Police Department officers then arrived and took custody of the suspect.

The victim was not injured during the encounter.

Stephanie Baer is the city news editor.

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