The Buzz 12.11.14

WHO’S IN TOWN?

Much of the fear about Ebola in the U.S. is misplaced, while a devastating outbreak continues in West Africa. Some Americans – mostly health care workers and members of the military – have good reason to be concerned, but they’re also among the best informed. The Presidio of Monterey and Defense Language Institute hold a town hall meeting on Ebola this week, open to military families and Department of Defense employees and retirees. It’s sponsored by Newport Beach-based California Medical Systems.

5pm Monday, Dec. 15. ACS Gold room, Stilwell Community Center, building 4260, Gigling Road. Free. 242-7562, www.monterey.army.mil.

DID YOU KNOW?

The vampire squid, occasional star of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Tentacles exhibit, has the largest eyeballs (relative to its body size) of any creature on the planet. It responds to threats by flipping its caped arms back over its body, making itself look bigger to bluff away predators.

OVERHEARD

“So this is what it’s like on the other side.” 
–Monterey Bay Aquarium volunteer diver, admiring the Kelp Forest exhibit from the floor.

GOOD:

Students across the Peninsula will be zoned in to their screens this week as part of “An Hour of Code,” a national campaign sponsored by code.org to inspire youngsters to pursue careers in computer science. Despite ever-rising demand (and increasingly lucrative jobs) for workers who can write code, there are fewer schools in the U.S. teaching computer science than there were 10 years ago. Girls and minorities remain highly underrepresented in the field. “An Hour of Code” strives to change that, enlisting schools to dedicate one hour this week to code-based curricula. Among the activities planned, many Monterey Peninsula Regional School District students will participate in self-guided tutorials instructed by the likes of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Others will run code-training programs and learn how to code animated characters. At Seaside High, students will write code from scratch to create an original game.

BAD:

The way Patricia Ybarra lays it out in an Aug. 11 claim against the county, her encounter with District Attorney’s Office staff and other law enforcement officials in February was awful. She claims investigators, while serving a search warrant on her King City home, pointed guns at her 11-year-old daughter amd threatened to shoot the dog while they searched the house. Officers seized her ’96 Honda Accord – allegedly procured via Officer Bobby Carrillo from a kickback scheme he allegedly masterminded. “She personally has nothing to do with the case,” Deputy DA Steve Somers says. It’s just that she and her son, 19-year-old Francisco Ybarra, each owned a car that passed through Carrillo’s hands. In October, Carrillo was also charged with assaulting Francisco. On Dec. 2, the Board of Supervisorsdenied her claim alleging excessive force and false imprisonment. A lawsuit is coming, her attorney Steven Berki says. (She still hasn’t gotten the car back.)