Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Go Bears

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

“Fight for California”

Our sturdy Golden Bear is watching from the sky
Looks down upon our colors fair
And guards us from his lair
Our banner Gold and Blue
The symbol on it too
Means Fight! for California
For California through and through.
Stalwart girded for the fray
Will strive for victory
Their all at Mater’s feet will lay
That brain and brawn will win the day.
Our mighty sons and true
Will strive for us anew
And Fight! for California
For California through and through.

“Big C”

On our rugged eastern foothills
Stands our symbol clear and bold
Big C means to fight and strive
And win for Blue and Gold
(Fight Fight Fight)
Golden Bear is ever watching
Day by day he prowls
And when he hears the tread
Of lowly Stanford red
From his lair he fiercly growls

Grr-ah! Grr-ah! Grrrrr–ah!

We are sons of California
Fighting for the Gold and Blue
Palms of victory we will win
For Alma Mater true
(fight fight fight)
Stanford’s men will soon be routed
By our dazzling “C”
And when we serpentine
Their red will turn to green
In our hour of victory

(Yeah, yeah, I know. The research was done at UCSC not Berkeley. But we still watch our cousin’s back. )

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

UC Santa Cruz is the Banana Slugs - could that be why you went with UC Berkley's mascot and song?

My Alma Mater Cal State University Los Angeles was the "Diablos" when I was there but in 1981 it was changed to the "Golden Eagles" to be more "inclusive". You wouldn't want to let people think you were calling all Latinos Devils by using the Spanish Diablos for the team name. All my Latino friends thought using the Spanish word was an honor to the Spanish/Mexican/Latino history of the area.
It would have been better to change it to "Peregrine Falcons" if they were going to change it. In the late 60's a nutty professor got tired of raising pigeons and turned all of his loose on campus. After a while the place was overrun with sky rats. So another professor put some nesting boxes on a few of the buildings and moved some mated pairs of Peregrines in. Pigeons reduced and everyone on campus and in the area got to watch the falcons hunt, teach their young to fly etc. Much better than getting poop on you, your books or food sitting at the outdoor tables.

I wonder if any still live on the campus? Did a quick google, Cal State LA's Face Book page shows a female with eggs on campus this last spring. One article says they are declared to be "honorary golden eagles".

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

From the article, it doesn’t appear to be govt funded

delkeener Loc: SW Rhode Island, USA

I suggest the author is likely to be one of those who are causing the public to distrust science. The article is garbage without the slightest bit of scientific validity.

delkeener Loc: SW Rhode Island, USA

I agree with you completely. My experience is just the same as yours. The article is garbage and likely by "researchers" whose primary search is for funding to support "researchers" paychecks and little else.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

See last comment of Cal fight song post!

I did my studies at UCSB. We didn’t have a football team, so being a Bay Area boy I “adopted” UCB as my surrogate home team. I mean, I couldn’t really root for UCLA now could I? I often used the UCB libraries when doing grad work once back in NorCal. My sister also worked for 35 years in the Psych Dept at Berkeley. I have ties to the Bears.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Didn’t read the actual study did you?

1. Appears to be a replication study, probably as part of a Doctoral study, as the primary author is listed as being “under the direction of” the second author.

2. As a replication study, it should be thought of as part of a chain or web of other research. In this case, it was riffing off of a study done in 2014.

3. In both the original study and this one, a photo-taking impairment effect was measured. This replication study was looking at possible theoretical explanations.

4. The results did NOT seem to support one possible explanation: memory offload theory - the idea that a person does not remember as well if they believe there is another person or device upon which they can rely on for future memory help.

5. Controlling for observation time, they still got a photo-taking impairment effect, just less pronounced.

6. In terms of memory, the researchers are unable to elucidate why the photo-taking impairment effect happens. It could be something to do with the act of taking photos itself, or it could be more a metacognitive effect that could appear in other non-photography situations as well.

7. Keep in mind, this is research centered on memory, not necessarily photography. As such, it focused on how memory was effected by imposing a picture-taking behavior into the observation scenario. It does not necessarily generalize over to the more intense, focused form of photography most hoggers do.

8. What it would be wise to take away from this: a) To understand research, it is best to go read the actual research (as opposed to a short teaser blurb). And b) if one is NOT going to actually read the research, it’s probably best to avoid drawing any conclusions about it, and risk looking ........ silly.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

My High School was the Bombers (the plane, not the terrorists)
I graduated from Cal State LA when we were Diablos
My daughter is a UCLA Bruin and now a Cavalier since she is at Univ of Virginia Medical School. Wahoos or Hoos was an insult or joke started by rival Washington and Lee Univ that the student body embraced and uses for everything but official functions, kind of like Yankee Doodle was a British insult that the Continental Army co-opted, music and all. Opps, I forgot the Medical School forbids the students calling themselves Cavaliers or Wahoos or having any clothing or other items with the Cavalier on it. Those are under graduates don't ya know!
My oldest graduated from Cal St LA after they became Golden Eagles, then got a masters from Pepperdine - The Waves, now he has done work on subjects and another Masters at ??? he has never said, it fact I am not sure if it is for the Army Reserves or doing it on his own. He is in a Civil Affairs Reserve Unit (they are the nice Special Forces, they try to make friends before shooting). He does a lot of online work and travels around, even out of state for classes/seminars which I assume are part of the masters????

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

It appears we can both be thankful we are not associated with Stanford.


Or USC.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Here is a long list of unusual mascots: https://www.deseretnews.com/top/1404/5/Fighting-Artichokes-Most-original-sports-mascots.html Fighting Pickles, Artichokes and Criminals???? We can be grateful we didn't go to most of those.

My youngest aunt was a Ballard Memorial Bomber like me. When she married she moved a few miles and her kids were Heath HS Pirates - except Aunt Jan insisted on calling them what we called them at Ballard Memorial* - Heathens - it never failed to get the two girls upset, their brother kind of liked both names.

*In front of the school was a structure with the names of all county men who died in a war (space left for future names) topped by a plaque of the only Ballard County soldier to win the Medal of Honor (WW II).

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thanks for providing a review of the study, Jim! Being part of a chain of research + your pointing out "the researchers are unable to elucidate why the photo-taking impairment effect happens..." we should probably be curious about why that little blurb was written at all.

But we know why. Any snippet of "relative truth" is going to be about all most of us are interested in. And untruths - if they fit into our belief system - are likely to go unquestioned entirely (I heard that around last election time, lol).

As for UHH, definitely not the place to attempt in-depth thoughtful discussion. School mascots indeed!

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

There may be something to this. I know that, for example I enjoy a wedding or other event more when I am participating in it rather than thinking about camera angles. Whether my memory of the event is different is hard to say since I experience the event in only one of the two ways and, therefore there is no direct basis for comparison.

BlackRipleyDog

I absolutely agree that it buffers you from engaging in the experience. Back in 2014 I was in D.C. while my wife was at a conference. So I did the tourist gig. One place I took my camera to was the Holocaust Museum.
In retrospect I was trying so hard to get the right perspective throughout the entire museum that I did not immerse myself into what was all around me. I remember seeing all exhibits through the viewfinder and not really seeing them with my eyes alone. Now I find my memories are entirely those photographs.
My advice would be to visit it first without a camera and make a second trip to photograph it later.

jcboy3

I can't remember anything because of the concussion I got when I fell into the open manhole after jumping (without looking) out of the way of the bus that was honking at me because I had stepped into the street in front of it to avoid the crowd that had gathered because the crossing light that I didn't see said "No Crossing" because I had my head in my phone (I think).