News Digest News Digest (October 12, 2005)

South Palo Alto school board candidates' forum

Terman Middle School's PTA is hosting an upcoming school board candidates' forum -- the only event so far scheduled in south Palo Alto.

There are four candidates vying for two open seats on the Palo Alto Unified School District's Board of Education. Claude Ezran, Barbara Mitchell, Steve Mullen and Dana Tom -- all district parents -- will answer audience questions on a wide variety of topics related to local, state and national education issues. Board President John Barton and member Cathy Kroymann are vacating the two open seats.

The forum, which will be moderated by the Palo Alto League of Women Voters, will be held from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Oct. 19 in the Terman cafeteria, 655 Arastradero Road.

Local movie premiere benefits Afghanistan school

A local eighth grade leadership class is hosting a movie premiere benefit at Gunn High School's Spangenberg Theatre Friday that will include the paparazzi, a red carpet, and movie fans dressed to "the nines" for a night of family fun.

The event is called "Lights, Camera, Action!" and the movie shown will be "The Californians," a Parker Film production out of Marin County. All proceeds will benefit Trust in Education, a nonprofit organization that supports schools in Lalander, Afghanistan.

Eighth graders from Corte Madera School in Portola Valley decided to take on the project after watching a slide show about middle school life in Afghanistan. The students were shocked by the poverty and lack of educational opportunities for the students overseas.

For more information or to buy tickets for Friday night's premiere and benefit, call Aaron Ebert at 851-4545 or e-mail him at tennismenace1392@yahoo.com.

Stanford team wins driverless car challenge

Stanford University's diesel-powered, driverless Volkswagen Touareg R5 won a $2 million desert race in Nevada Saturday, averaging about 19 miles per hour over the approximately 132-mile course.

The Grand Challenge, an off-road robot competition sponsored by the federal government, originally included nearly 200 teams, but the contest's organizers whittled the contestants down to 23 who were permitted to take part in the race.

Out of the 23 teams, only four completed the entire course within the required 10-hour time limit with a fifth crossing the finish line more than two hours later, said computer scientist Sebastian Thrun, head of the Stanford racing team.

Although the remaining 18 vehicles didn't complete the race, this year's competition was a startling improvement from the 2004 inaugural race when none of the entries crossed the finish line.

Thrun said the Stanford vehicle, nicknamed "Stanley," was trailing behind Carnegie Mellon's humvee entry late in the race.

"They were really fast but they had an engine problem," said Thrun. The Volkswagen went on to beat the humvee by about 10 minutes.

The contest, sponsored by an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense, was started to create autonomous vehicle technology "that will save lives and advance technology," according to its Website.

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